The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has reported the first known U.S. case of an emerging strain of the mpox virus, according to a CDPH release Saturday.

The case of “clade I mpox” was identified in a traveler recently returned from Africa, where this strain is actively circulating. Officials with the CDPH have emphasized that the risk to the public remains “very low.”

The individual, who sought medical care in San Mateo County due to their travel history to East Africa and symptoms, is in isolation at home.

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The clade I mpox, historically associated with more severe illness than clade II — the strain responsible for outbreaks in California and the U.S. since 2022 — has shown milder clinical presentations in recent cases as long as patients receive medical care.

CDPH has informed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the case, and specimens from the patient are being sent for further laboratory analysis.

Public health officials are contacting those who may have had close contact with the patient, though there is no evidence of community transmission of clade I mpox in California or the rest of the country.

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Both clade I and clade II mpox spread primarily through close, skin-to-skin, intimate, or sexual contact. In their release, the CDPH also reassured the public that casual contact, such as in offices, classrooms, or stores, poses minimal risk of mpox transmission.

According to the CDC, the latest strain primarily spreads through close skin-to-skin contact, including sexual contact, and has the potential to cause severe illness and even fatalities. It emerged first in the eastern Congo.

A patient infected with mpox shows lesions on his body in Kamituga, South Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sept. 20.  (Glody Murhabazi/AFP via Getty Images)

Since September, over 31,000 confirmed cases of this strain of mpox have been documented globally, with the majority concentrated in three African countries: Burundi, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as reported by the World Health Organization.

The CDC has also identified travel-related cases of this new mpox strain in countries including Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and the United Kingdom.

The CDC has issued enhanced precautions for travelers to Central and Eastern Africa, where clade I mpox outbreaks are ongoing.

No deaths have been reported yet from this new strain, according to the CDC.

The CDPH did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

St. Louis, MO – Virtual reality isn’t just for video games. 

Some nursing students in St. Louis are using it to practice high-tech training without the need for real patients.

Goldfarb School of Nursing has integrated VR into its curriculum to give students a chance to hone skills in a different way. 

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As the demand for nurses continues to rise — McKinsey & Company projects a shortage of 200,000 to 450,000 nurses next year — this technology is helping future health care workers prepare more effectively and efficiently.

Katie Jett, program director at Goldfarb, said virtual reality not only helps students with clinical skills but also makes learning more engaging. 

“It’s the new way that people connect and communicate, and that can be offputting to someone who is older, because that’s not the way that we connected,” Jett told Fox News.

“But when you think about how people are connecting, how adolescents and young adults are connecting, a lot of it is through virtual experiences and gaming and technology.”

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In addition to medical tasks, VR simulations help students practice their communication and bedside manner. 

Zykita Deal, a nursing student at Goldfarb, shared how she practiced delivering advice to a virtual patient. 

VR simulations help students practice their communication and bedside manner. 

“I was just talking to him about eating better, how to have a better routine with his medicines … and I was giving him a recommendation on how to not be [as] lonely, since he still has his son and they can still create meals that his wife used to make,” Deal said. 

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“He could keep his wife’s memory alive” this way, she added.

Students gear up with VR goggles and controllers to perform a variety of tasks, while instructors select responses for virtual patients, creating realistic scenarios that challenge students.

A nursing student at Goldfarb School of Nursing interacts with a virtual reality simulation while wearing VR goggles, practicing clinical skills in a virtual environment. (Olivianna Calmes/Fox News)

Lesley Schwartz, another nursing student, said the technology helps her prepare for real-world situations. 

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“There’s going to be times when the vitals are going to be conveniently close to you,” she said. 

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“There’s going to be times when you’re going to have to go get a vital cart to come into the room with. And it just kind of helps with your preparedness. When you get thrown into the virtual reality, you don’t get a brief as to where everything is.”

Nursing students at Goldfarb School of Nursing use VR controllers to simulate clinical tasks as part of their hands-on training in a virtual environment.  (Olivianna Calmes/Fox News)

Research by Wolters Kluwer indicates that 65% of nursing education programs use VR in some capacity. 

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Goldfarb combines VR training with full-body patient simulators, providing an engaging learning experience.

A nursing student practices clinical skills in a simulated hospital room using virtual reality technology at Goldfarb School of Nursing. (Olivianna Calmes/Fox News)

“It brings fun to learning and that way you’re not just always sitting behind a desk and hearing someone talk,” Deal said.

Jett plans to expand the program, incorporating more advanced nursing scenarios to further enhance student training.

Olivianna Calmes joined Fox News in 2024 as a Multimedia Reporter based in St. Louis, Missouri.

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