Minn. Health Providers Advised To Be On Lookout For Possible Monkeypox Cases

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minnesota Department of Health is advising health care providers throughout the state to be on the lookout for possible monkeypox cases.

In an advisory sent earlier this week, MDH is asking providers to "consider monkeypox in people with unexplained rash." Providers are also to consider if the person has traveled in the past 30 days to a country with a confirmed or suspected monkeypox case, had contact with a person with a confirmed or suspected case and if the person is a man who "reports close or intimate contact with other men."

Providers are then advised to report suspected monkeypox cases to MDH.

RELATED: How Does Monkeypox Compare To COVID-19?

The first case in the United States was confirmed in Massachusetts last week. No cases have been yet reported in Minnesota.

According to health officials, monkeypox is similar to smallpox and usually begins with fever, headache and fatigue. It then creates a rash that turns into raised blisters and scabs. The illness lasts about two to four weeks.

Dr. Nicholas Lehnertz, medical specialist with the Minnesota Department of Health, told WCCO in a previous report that health officials are taking the spread of the virus seriously and continue to look out for it. He does stress that the disease is far less transmissible than COVID-19.

"Monkeypox is generally spread through a sort of direct contact with the virus through … like bodily fluids or direct skin-to-skin contact through the pox lesions themselves," he said.

Lehnertz said monkeypox has a fatality rate of 1%-11%, but that the rate is highly influenced by variables such as access to health care, comorbidities, nutrition and more.

Monkeypox originated in Africa and is rarely seen outside that continent.