Local and state officials are monitoring the spread of monkeypox, which unofficially made it to Kansas late last week.
On Saturday, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced a presumptive case in a Johnson County resident who had recently traveled out of state. Additional details about the patient are being withheld by the state agency.
Monkeypox involves a number of symptoms including fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion in one round, followed by a rash resembling blisters or pimples on the face, in the mouth or other parts of the body like hands, feet, chest or genitals. The rash may be the first symptom in some cases, so residents need to call their health care provider as soon as possible if that happens.
The risk for monkeypox is low, but infection can develop in certain circumstances:
*Contact with one or more people with similar rashes or had probable or confirmed diagnoses of monkeypox
*Close or intimate in-person contact with people experiencing monkeypox symptoms
*Recent travel outside the United States to a country with confirmed monkeypox activity
*Contact with wild animals or exotic pets, dead or alive, that are endemic species. Products derived from such animals — creams, lotions, powders and the like — are included
Limited supplies of monkeypox vaccine are available. Click here for a link to the KDHE’s monkeypox information page.
