A healthcare worker in Los Angeles has become the first person in the U.S. to contract monkeypox from a workplace exposure, The Los Angeles Times reported Sept. 13.
County health officials have been in touch with the CDC about the case and said the overall risk of monkeypox infection for healthcare workers "remains very low."
"We have identified a healthcare worker with monkeypox who appears to have been exposed to the virus at their worksite," Rita Singhal, MD, chief medical officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, said during a board of supervisors presentation Sept. 13, according to the LA Times. "This is the first case of monkeypox in a healthcare worker in the United States that has been linked to a worksite exposure."
No additional details about the case were shared. The news comes a day after Los Angeles health officials confirmed monkeypox as the cause of death in a resident who they said was "severely immunocompromised" — marking the nation's first confirmed fatality from the disease.
Two more updates:
1. The CDC has confirmed 22,630 U.S. cases as of Sept. 13.
2. Neurologic complications may be a possible outcome of monkeypox, according to a new report from the CDC. The report detailed the cases of two people with monkeypox in the U.S. who developed encephalomyelitis — inflammation of the brain and spinal cord — about a week after symptom onset. Leg weakness, altered mental status, and bowel and bladder incontinence were among signs of the inflammation. Both of the patients were men and previously healthy. Neither of them had been vaccinated.
"The underlying pathology behind this is unclear but might represent either MPXV invasion of the [central nervous system] or a parainfectious autoimmune process triggered by systemic MPXV infection," the report said, adding that the outcome is rare and has been seen during smallpox outbreaks in past centuries. Click here to read the full report.