Photo: Getty Images
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that it is monitoring over 200 people across 27 states after they had contact with an individual who was diagnosed with monkeypox.
Officials said that the individual returned to the United States on an overnight flight from Lago, Nigeria, to Atlanta on July 9. They then boarded a flight later that day and flew to Dallas. On July 15, they went to the emergency room and were diagnosed with monkeypox.
The CDC said that the people being monitored include those who sat within six feet of the individual on the flight from Lagos to Atlanta and those who used the mid-cabin bathroom during the trip. The flight attendants and the workers who cleaned the bathroom are also being monitored for signs of the viral infection.
Officials said that those on the flight from Atlanta to Dallas were not at risk because their exposure lasted less than three hours.
The first signs of monkeypox include fever, headache, chills, exhaustion, and swollen lymph nodes. Within three days, patients will develop a rash and lesions, which will eventually scab over and fall off. The illness can last up to a month and is fatal in about ten percent of cases.
Currently, there is no safe treatment for monkeypox.