TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – According to the Grand Traverse County Health Department based in Traverse City, the first case of monkeypox was identified in their county on Monday, Sept. 12th.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) notified the county’s health department (GTCHD) that a case of monkeypox virus (MPV) was identified in a Grand Traverse County resident.
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The Grand Traverse press release states that the individual is currently isolated and poses no risk to the public. To protect the individual’s privacy, no further information was released about the person.
According to Michael Lahey, the Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for the Grand Traverse County Health Department, contact tracing is being done to identify others who may have been exposed.
To date, more than 237 MPV cases have been identified in Michigan, with the case in Grand Traverse County being the first one identified in Northern Michigan. The highest number of monkeypox cases reported in Michigan have been identified in the city of Detroit, Macomb County, Oakland County and Wayne County.
MPV is reported as being a viral illness that spreads primarily through direct contact with an infected rash, scabs, bodily fluids or prolonged face-to-face contact. The infection may begin with flu-like symptoms and swelling of the lymph nodes and then can progress to a rash on the face and body.
Symptoms can also include: fever, headache, muscle and backache, chills, exhaustion and a rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appear on the face, inside the mouth and on other parts of the body.
MPV is very contagious until the rash is fully healed and a fresh layer of skin has formed. Symptoms usually appear within three weeks of exposure and infection and the rash often lasts two to three weeks.
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Because MPV is not a new virus, there is already a vaccine available which is a two- dose series that is taken 28 days apart.
