CHICAGO (WLS) — Public well being officers have recognized 5 new confirmed circumstances of monkeypox in Chicago residents, bringing the overall to seven, in keeping with a press launch from the Chicago Dept. of Public Well being.

CDPH mentioned among the latest circumstances contain people who lately traveled to Europe. One Chicago resident additionally reported attending the Worldwide Mr. Leather-based (IML) convention in Chicago from Could 26 to30.

CDPH officers mentioned residents from one other state who have been recognized with monkeypox additionally reported attending the identical convention.

Chicago public well being officers mentioned they’ve contacted different public well being departments across the nation to request notification of any further circumstances in individuals who visited Chicago from Could 26 to 30.

CDPH mentioned people attending festivals or different summer season occasions ought to contemplate how a lot shut, private, skin-to-skin contact is prone to happen on the occasions they plan to attend.

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Chicago and Illinois public well being officers confirmed the primary possible case of monkeypox within the state in early June in an grownup male Chicago resident who lately traveled to Europe.

“Chicago being a really giant worldwide hub for journey,” mentioned Dr. Irfan Hafiz, chief medical officer for Northwestern Medication Northwest Area. “It was inevitable that we’d see a case or two, probably extra, in Chicago.”

Not like COVID-19, which is a brand new virus, monkeypox has been round because the Fifties and the vast majority of circumstances come from central and west Africa.

“Regardless that it isn’t prone to be transmitted to numerous individuals like COVID, the people who get it may be fairly sick,” mentioned Dr. John Segreti, an epidemiologist at Rush College Medical Heart.

Signs embrace rashes, sores and lesions that always look extreme, in addition to fever and muscle aches.

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Docs say monkeypox is usually unfold by skin-to-skin contact, although it will also be handed by means of contaminated clothes or bedding. And whereas it will probably make sufferers very sick, it’s not normally deadly.

Docs say the smallpox vaccine usually works to guard from monkey pox, and there are additionally anti-viral medication available on the market to deal with the virus as soon as a affected person has it.

“You are not gonna get if from strolling previous somebody or seeing them on a bus,” Segreti mentioned. “It’s a must to have very shut contact with somebody.”

Public well being officers say there’s little or no to no threat to those that haven’t been in shut bodily contact with a monkeypox affected person.

“I do not suppose we’ll see loads of circumstances, however perhaps just a few dozen circumstances,” Segreti mentioned.

Most monkeypox sufferers expertise solely fever, physique aches, chills and fatigue. Individuals with extra severe sickness might develop a rash and lesions on the face and fingers that may unfold to different elements of the physique. No deaths have been reported within the present outbreak past Africa.

Not like with COVID-19, the possibility of asymptomatic unfold of monkeypox is taken into account low.