An initial test at an IDPH laboratory yielded a positive orthopoxvirus result, and confirmatory testing is pending at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Public health officials are conducting contact tracing to identify individuals who may have had contact with the patient while was contagious.
“The case remains isolated and at this time there is no indication there is a great risk of extensive local spread of the virus, as monkeypox does not spread as easily as the COVID-19 virus,” public health officials wrote in a statement Thursday.
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Last week, the World Health Organization said 23 countries that haven’t previously had monkeypox have now reported more than 250 cases. On Monday, the U.K. announced another 71 monkeypox cases.
Monkeypox is known to spread when there is close physical contact with an infected person, their clothing or bedsheets.
Most monkeypox patients experience only fever, body aches, chills and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body. No deaths have been reported in the current outbreak beyond Africa.
Monkeypox is related to smallpox, but has milder symptoms. After smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, countries suspended their mass immunization programs, a move that some experts believe may be helping monkeypox spread now, since there is now little widespread immunity to related diseases. Smallpox vaccines are also protective against monkeypox.
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