PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) – The Philadelphia Department of Public Health said Friday that a suspected case of smallpox has been confirmed in a city resident.
The case was first announced on Thursday afternoon, but CDC evidence has confirmed it since.
The health department said the monkeypox virus has a much longer incubation period, which helps with contact tracking and containment.
RELATED: What is monkeypox? What you need to know about viruses, symptoms, spread“Typically, someone will develop symptoms between five and 21 days from the time they are exposed,” said Dana Perella, manager of acute communicable diseases at the Philadelphia Department of Health.
Perella said there is currently a vaccine to reduce the severity of the disease and antiviral treatment for patients with monkeypox.
“I think residents and visitors should feel safe to do all the fun things Philadelphia has to offer, with the right precautions,” he said.
City officials are working with the CDC to investigate how the person was exposed and whether he or she may have exposed someone else since he or she became infected.
The current outbreak was first confirmed in a British resident on 6 May. Since then, cases have been confirmed in 29 other non-endemic countries, including the United States. The CDC reports that there are 23 confirmed cases in 11 states. All over the world, there has only been one death associated with this outbreak.
Officials strongly recommend that anyone with symptoms of an unexplained rash on the face, palms, arms, legs, genitals, or perianal region that may be accompanied by a flu-like illness should contact your usual healthcare provider as soon as possible.
Smallpox is transmitted through personal and close contact. Initial symptoms usually include fever, fatigue, headache, and enlarged lymph nodes. A rash often begins on the face and then appears on the palms, arms, legs, and other parts of the body. Some recent cases started with a rash on the genitals or perianal region only without any other initial symptoms. Over the course of a week or two, the rash changes from small, flat spots to tiny blisters that are similar to chickenpox and then to larger blisters. These may take a few weeks to complete. Once the scabs fall off, the person is no longer contagious.
RELATED: Monkeypox will not become a pandemic, but there are many unknowns
Smallpox is a viral disease commonly found in Central and West Africa. Smallpox was first discovered in laboratory monkeys in 1958. Animal blood tests in Africa later found evidence of monkeypox infection in several African rodents. Monkeypox was first reported in humans in 1970.
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