A case of clade I mpox — a more virulent version of the virus that causes monkeypox, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — has been confirmed in the U.S., as global health officials also monitor newly reported hantavirus cases in Europe.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health (CDPH) said Wednesday that the state’s first identified case of clade I mpox was detected in a person who recently traveled to Western Europe, where officials continue to monitor infectious disease activity.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has also reported new hantavirus cases in Spain and France, drawing attention to the rare but potentially severe disease, which can cause serious respiratory complications in humans.

Hantavirus is typically spread through contact with infected rodents and can lead to severe respiratory illness, though cases remain rare, according to the WHO.

While health officials said the mpox case “does not pose a risk to the general public,” they still encourage those who may be at risk to receive the JYNNEOS vaccine.

NEW MPOX STRAIN CONFIRMED IN US STATE FOR FIRST TIME

Mpox symptoms can include fever, swollen lymph nodes and a characteristic rash, according to CDC.

“Mpox hasn’t gone away, and we want people to be protected, especially as many in our community prepare for travel, festivals, and gatherings this summer,” CDPH Commissioner Dr. Manisha Juthani said in the release.

“The vaccine is safe, effective and widely available. Completing the two-dose series is the best way to protect yourself and your partners.”

HANTAVIRUS DEATHS ON CRUISE SHIP HIGHLIGHT DANGERS OF RODENT-BORNE DISEASE

Clade I and clade II mpox are genetically distinct forms of the virus with key differences in severity and geographic origin, according to the CDC and the WHO.

Clade I, historically identified in Central Africa, has been linked to more severe illness and higher mortality rates, with cases often involving more widespread rashes and complications.

Clade II, which has circulated primarily in West Africa, is generally associated with milder disease and drove the global outbreak beginning in 2022, when most patients experienced less severe symptoms and lower hospitalization and death rates, according to the WHO.

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The CDC and WHO say distinguishing between the two clades helps guide risk assessments, particularly as international travel increases.

Amid the current hantavirus outbreak that started on the MV Hondius cruise ship as it sailed across the Atlantic, health experts are now examining whether Americans may be encountering the virus in everyday places without realizing it.

The rare Andes strain, which was linked to the MV Hondius outbreak, is the only known hantavirus that has the capability to spread from person to person, usually through prolonged close contact with an infected person.

Most cases of hantavirus in the U.S. occur in the desert Southwest and on the West Coast, according to Dr. Linda Yancey, an infectious disease specialist at Memorial Hermann in the Houston area.

ANDES VIRUS LINKED TO CRUISE SHIP DEATHS RAISES CONCERN OVER HUMAN-TO-HUMAN SPREAD

“In Texas, cases are mostly seen on the west side of the state,” she told Fox News Digital. “The strain of hantavirus native to east Texas and west Louisiana, the Bayou strain, is not as infectious in humans as the western strain, the Sin Nombre strain.”

Hantavirus is mainly spread through contact with infected rodents – primarily deer mice – and their urine, droppings or saliva, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

People can become infected after breathing in contaminated particles that are stirred into the air or touching contaminated surfaces and then touching their nose or mouth. More rarely, rodent bites can spread the virus.

HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK TIMELINE HIGHLIGHTS KEY MOMENTS IN DEADLY CRUISE CRISIS

Exposure is most likely when cleaning enclosed or poorly ventilated areas where rodents may nest unnoticed for weeks or months, health officials say.

Risky locations can include garages, sheds, cabins, attics, barns and crawl spaces. Storage units, stables, kitchen cabinets and spaces behind appliances if rodents are present.

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Rodents can also nest in unused cars, RVs, campers and boats, which can be sources of exposure when reopened.

The National Park Service says that most human cases of hantavirus occur in the spring and are linked to buildings that become heavily infested with rodents over the winter.

“Most people are exposed when cleaning out sheds and garages where rodents have been living,” Yancey confirmed. “You can be exposed by just the dust and droppings left behind by rodents – you don’t even need to even see the rodent to be exposed.”

The risk of inhalation is also higher when opening buildings that have gone unused for longer periods of time, sweeping dusty floors or moving and unpacking boxes, experts cautioned.

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Rodent exposure is not limited to buildings. Health officials say people can also encounter hantavirus risk while handling firewood, working in rodent-prone outdoor areas or disturbing rodent nests and burrows. 

To prevent infection, if cleaning a structure that might have harbored rodents, Yancey recommends wearing a mask and using a diluted bleach solution to wet down any dust or loose debris.

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“This will help kill the exposed virus and reduce the amount of infectious dust,” Yancey said.

The CDC advises against vacuuming or sweeping rodent urine, droppings or nesting materials, as this can aerosolize the virus and increase the risk of inhalation.

Instead, health officials recommend wearing gloves, soaking rodent droppings with disinfectant, wiping them up with paper towels, properly disposing of waste and thoroughly cleaning surfaces, followed by careful handwashing.

Some signs of rodent activity can include droppings, shredded nesting materials, gnaw marks, strong musky odors and scratching sounds in the walls or ceilings, according to public health guidance.

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Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, emphasized that hantavirus is not something that most Americans encounter in daily life, and is more prominent in certain parts of Europe and Asia.

“It is very rare in the U.S. and is seen out west, but rarely,” he told Fox News Digital. “We need to avoid overpersonalizing the risk of a very rare virus.”

Despite the anecdotal nature of the study, it had a seismic impact on medical practice. Most doctors stopped prescribing testosterone, cautioning that the risk of prostate cancer was too high. That prohibition lasted for the remainder of the 20th century. For roughly 60 years, “there was almost no testosterone given anywhere in this world,” says Dr. Abe Morgentaler, a urologist at Harvard Medical School. When he was a medical student in the 1980s, Morgentaler told me, “I was taught that if a healthy man received testosterone today, he would come back in one month with aggressive prostate cancer.”

Morgentaler, however, was curious about the hormone’s potential. As an undergraduate conducting research, he found that when castrated lizards were given testosterone, their mating dances were restored. Once he was practicing as a urologist, men started coming to him complaining of sexual problems. It was a decade before the arrival of Viagra, and doctors had little to offer. “I thought, Maybe guys are like my lizards,” Morgentaler says. He started prescribing testosterone to a small group of patients, warning them that it could increase their risk of prostate cancer. Desperate, most men went ahead anyway.

To his surprise, many of his patients reported that not only were they now having lots of sex but also that other aspects of their lives had improved. “They’d say, ‘My wife likes me again,’” he recalls. “Another says, ‘I wake up in the morning, I swing my legs over the side of the bed, I have optimism for my day. I haven’t felt that way in 15 years.’” Over the next decade, as Morgentaler spoke about his patients’ positive outcomes at conferences, including preliminary data suggesting no increase in the incidence of prostate cancer, more doctors began following his lead.

But soon after Morgentaler began treating his patients, a new obstacle arose. Doping scandals swept the world of sports, where athletes trying to set records and win Olympic medals were caught taking testosterone and other anabolic steroids at doses much higher than what Morgentaler was giving his patients. In 1990, Congress passed a law adding steroids, including testosterone, to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of controlled substances — making the hormone illegal without a prescription and adding new restrictions for doctors.

Then, after a few studies published in the early 2010s suggested that T.R.T. was associated with a potential increase in heart attacks and strokes, the F.D.A. issued a warning label for testosterone products. As part of the warning, the agency required drug makers to fund what would become the largest randomized, placebo-controlled trial to investigate the risks and benefits of T.R.T.