Massachusetts Department of Public Health officials have confirmed a case of monkeypox in a traveler who returned to the U.S. from Canada, the agency said May 18.
The individual is hospitalized and in "good condition." The health department is working with the CDC and local health boards to contact trace. The CDC is also tracking multiple cases of the condition in the past two weeks in Portugal, Spain and the U.K.
"CDC is urging healthcare providers in the U.S. to be alert for patients who have rash illnesses consistent with monkeypox, regardless of whether they have travel or specific risk factors for monkeypox," the agency said in a May 18 statement.
This marks the first case in the U.S. this year. Texas and Maryland each reported a case in 2021 in people who had recently traveled to Nigeria.