LA County investigating possible death from monkeypox

Los Angeles County health officials are investigating whether a person's recent death was possibly caused by monkeypox. 

Department of Public Health officials announced the investigation on Thursday, only the second known instance of a monkeypox patient who died in the United States, the first being in Texas. 

"We are early in the investigation and do not have additional details available at this time," said Dr. Rita Singhal, chief medical officer for the county Department of Public Health. "As soon as details become available we will share them while maintaining confidentiality and privacy."

Singhal made it clear that the death has not yet been confirmed to be a result of monkeypox. 

"We do have a death of a person who did have a diagnosis of monkeypox, and so this is something we will investigate further," she said.

County health officials will be working directly with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the investigation. 

There have been "seven confirmed deaths among monkeypox cases in non-endemic countries," Singhal said. 

 As of Thursday, there were 1,805 confirmed or suspected cases of monkeypox identified in the county and 21,274 cases nationwide.