Alameda County Health and Human Services Agency reported the first probable case of smallpox in a resident on Thursday. The news comes after San Francisco reported its first case on June 4. The resident who tested positive had close contact with someone who also tested positive recently, the agency said.
The California Department of Public Health identified the case and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is conducting additional tests to confirm it, Alameda County health officials said.
The number of confirmed cases in California has risen to eight, but the risk of smallpox in the general population remains low. After New York, with 11 cases, California has the second highest number of cases in the United States, the CDC said.
The virus spreads through direct contact with body fluids or sores of an infected person, or with materials such as clothing that have touched body fluids or sores, according to the CDC. It presents as a gallbladder rash, similar to chickenpox, and other symptoms may include fever, headache, and chills.
“Monkeypox can sometimes be fatal, especially in poor places with inadequate health care,” UCSF said.
Infectious disease expert Seth Blumberg said recently in a UCSF news story that it is easier to control monkeypox than COVID.
“On the one hand, smallpox is not as transmissible unless biology has changed drastically, and that seems unlikely,” said Blumberg, an assistant professor of medicine at UCSF. “Secondly, it takes much longer for a smallpox infection to develop inside an individual and become transmissible. Therefore, there is a greater chance of protecting contacts. Third, smallpox infection The monkey may not be very transmissible until its visible rash highlights the need for quarantine, while COVID may be transmitted before symptoms appear and even in asymptomatic cases. “