Los Angeles County confirms first presumptive case of monkeypox infection

Los Angeles County Public Health officials announced the first presumptive cause of monkeypox infection in the county Thursday morning. 

"Is this something to be alarmed about?" said infectious disease expert Dr. Suman Radhakrishna. "The answer is no."

Though the case was labeled as presumptive, as officials await confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials have launched an investigation and are conducting contract tracing to determine close contacts with the individual. 

They learned that the person, an adult, had recently traveled and had close contact with another person who was a confirmed case. 

Thus far, the person has shown symptoms of the infection but has not required hospitalization. 

Monkeypox often causes symptoms like body aches and fever, as well as a rash that can spread across the human body. It is only spread through close, intimate or prolonged contact. 

"The rash can be just red skin to small boils and pimples that have fluid in them and these can burst open and that's how it is transmitted to another person," said Radhakrishna. 

The patient has reportedly isolated themself from others. 

"We've known about monkeypox for decades," said Dr. Jonathan Grein, the Director of Hospital Epidemiology at Cedars-Sinai. "We know it is much less easily spread than COVID."

California previously reported three other cases of monkeypox in Northern California, a few of the nearly 20 cases now reported across the United States. 

This is a disease for which contact tracing can be very effective," said Grein. "Because it requires the close contact, the work that the public health department is doing right now is identifying the close contacts of cases, reaching out to them, asking them to isolate in some instances, that can be very effective for this type of disease." 

Still, CDC officials maintain that "the risk of monkeypox in the general population remains very low," due to its less infectious nature. 

"We may see more cases associated with close contacts or with travel, and I think that is to be expected," said Grein. "We do not expect to see anywhere close to the numbers of cases that we're seeing with COVID. They are very different diseases." 

Doctors suggested the same steps they preached during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic -- staying away from people who are sick, washing hands and wearing masks -- to combat a potential monkeypox infection.

"The incubation period can be up to two weeks as long as three weeks," said Radhakrishna. "If you've been exposed to monkeypox, you need to wait three weeks before you say 'I don't have it.'"

There is no known cure for monkeypox, but there are several treatments that can help with symptoms.