Following a recent visit to Nigeria, Maryland residents tested positive in the laboratory for the rare virus monkeypox.
Maryland Department of Health (MDH), says that the patient is not currently in a hospital and is recovering alone with only mild symptoms.
We don’t know the name or age of the resident, nor where they live or went to Nigeria.
According to health professionals, the public doesn’t need any extra precautions at this time.

One Maryland resident, who was returning from Nigeria with his children, has now been diagnosed as having monkeypox. Pictorial: Skin lesions which is a common sign of monkeypox.

Unnamed residents are currently in isolation and have mild symptoms. They were not admitted to hospital. It can lead to skin spots that then become blisters. This can be a serious condition and may take several weeks for the virus to go away (as shown above).
“Public health authorities have identified, and continue to monitor those who might have been in touch with the diagnosed person,” Dr Jinlene Chan (deputy secretary for public-health at MDH) stated in a statement.
“Our coordinated response with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials shows how important it is to maintain a strong public healthcare infrastructure.”
A media release by the CDC reveals that its scientists have confirmed Tuesday that the traveler has monkeypox.
The patient’s strain matches that which has been emerging in Nigeria since 2017.
Currently, CDC works with airline officials and health officers to reach passengers on the same flight with the patient.
The CDC stated in a statement that travelers to the United States had to use masks while on board the aircraft. This was due to ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.
‘Therefore, it’s believed the risk of spread of monkeypox virus via respiratory droplets to others on the planes is low.
“CDC collaborates with state, local and airline health partners in assessing the potential risks for people who have been in close contact with travelers on board the aircraft and at their destination.
In 1958, Monkeypox emerged in a group of crab-eating macaque monkeys.
The first-ever human case was detected in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, since spreading to many central and western African nations.

Monkeypox was first discovered in the crab-eating macaques shown (pictured). This virus is used for research purposes in western and central Africa, and it kills just 1%.
The virus is transmitted from animal to human via bites and scratches.
The virus can be spread from person to person by breathing in droplets of airborne particles – much like how humans spread COVID-19 between each other.
Skin lesions are a sign of more severe infections.
The virus had been largely eradicated by 2003, when it was reintroduced to humans in America.
Monkeypox is not a vaccine or treatment. However, it has been reported that the smallpox vaccination helped to make monkeypox a non-problem among humans for years.
Other cases of monkeypox have been detected recently including in a Texas man in July and in Wales in June, when at least two people came down with the virus in the northern part of the country.