LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — County officials on Friday confirmed a case of monkeypox in Lake County.
On Friday evening, the Lake County Health Services Department reported that it had received confirmation that a case of monkeypox infection was identified in Lake County earlier in the day.
“Given the positive test result, Health Services is conducting an extensive contact investigation and working to prevent additional cases,” the agency said in its Friday report.
The individual affected is an adult Lake County resident who had recently traveled and later became aware of their exposure, officials said.
Health Services said the person is symptomatic and recovering and isolating at home; there is no evidence of community spread in Lake County at this time.
“The risk to the public posed by monkeypox is relatively low, but we are taking every reasonable
action, including proactive measures to mitigate further spread,” said Lake County’s Health Services Director Jonathan Portney in a written statement. “We are diligently working to facilitate vaccine allocations for people at highest risk, understanding the vaccine is currently in extremely limited supply.”
This is the first monkeypox case the county of Lake has confirmed. The state dashboard also has not previously indicated a confirmed case.
As of Friday, the California Department of Public Health reported there were 4,886 confirmed monkeypox cases in the state. Of those, 190 have been hospitalized.
Among Lake’s neighboring counties, there were eight cases each in Napa and Yolo, and 43 in Sonoma. No numbers were reported for Colusa, Glenn or Mendocino counties.
Monkeypox is rarely fatal. Symptoms are similar to those of smallpox, but milder and typically Include fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches and backache, headache, respiratory symptoms (e.g. sore throat, nasal congestion, or cough), and a rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appears on the face, inside the mouth and on other parts of the body, like the hands, feet, chest, genitals or anus.
Sometimes, people only experience a rash which can initially look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy. The rash goes through different stages and often resolves in two to four weeks on its own.
Officials said there are treatments available if needed, but they usually are not necessary.
People with monkeypox are infectious and should isolate until the rash resolves.
There are steps people can take to protect themselves from monkeypox, including asking intimate and other sexual partners about symptoms, avoiding skin-to-skin or prolonged face-to-face contact with anyone who has symptoms, practicing safer sex (such as reducing the number of sexual partners), keeping hands clean and maintaining respiratory etiquette.
People with symptoms should call their healthcare provider to determine the need for testing.
Visit the Public Health website for up-to-date facts on monkeypox, information to limit risk of exposure and to avoid misinformation.