First U.S. case spotted in rare monkeypox outbreak

The U.S. identified its first case this year of monkeypox virus, adding to a growing number of confirmed and suspected infections in the U.K., Portugal and Spain.

The Massachusetts Health Department reported Wednesday the case of an adult male who had recently traveled to Canada, where more than a dozen monkeypox infections have been identified. The man traveled via private transportation, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said it’s working with Massachusetts health officials on monitoring the situation.

Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that usually begins with flu-like symptoms before progressing to a rash, which could be confused with sexually transmitted infections like syphilis or herpes. Infections usually last from two to four weeks, according to the CDC.

Most of the cases have been in men who have sex with men, but anyone can contract monkeypox virus regardless of sexual orientation, the agency said. The CDC is urging health care providers to be on the lookout for signs of possible monkeypox infections, such as rashes, in all patients.

“Many of these global reports of monkeypox cases are occurring within sexual networks,” Inger Damon, a poxvirus expert and director of the CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said in a statement. “However, health care providers should be alert to any rash that has features typical of monkeypox.”

The U.S. has antiviral therapies and vaccines available for use against smallpox, a virus that’s closely related to monkeypox.

On Thursday, Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic said that the U.S. government will exercise a $119 million contract option for a freeze-dried version of its smallpox and monkeypox vaccine called Jynneos. The vaccine is one of three cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for smallpox.

Shares of Bavarian Nordic rose as much as 32 percent, its biggest one-day gain in seven years.

In 2018, the FDA approved tecovirimat, sold as Tpoxx in the U.S., an antiviral therapy for smallpox that has also shown activity against monkeypox. Manufacturer SIGA Technologies Inc. said Thursday it had received FDA approval for an intravenous formulation of the drug for smallpox treatment. Its stock rose as much as

23 percent in New York, the most in a day since 2016.

Texas and Maryland each reported one person with monkeypox infection in 2021, both of whom had recently traveled to Nigeria.

The case in Massachusetts is the first reported infection in the U.S. this year.