Chicago has detected a suspected case of monkeypox in a man who recently returned from Europe, health chiefs revealed on Thursday.
The patient – who was not named – is the first case detected in Illinois since the outbreak began last month.
This brings the US tally to 21 cases in 11 states, with Los Angeles still reporting its first suspected case today in an adult ‘close contact’ of yet another case.
Health chiefs in Pennsylvania also disclosed their first case in Philadelphia, but declined to reveal any further details to ‘protect resident’s privacy’.
Each department stressed that the risk of the virus spreading to others in the state is ‘very low’, but contact tracing is being done.
However, most infections in the US have been found in gay and bisexual men who had recently returned from abroad.
It is the latest in a global outbreak with more than 500 cases of the tropical disease in two dozen countries outside West Africa – where it originated.
The head of the World Health Organization is calling on people to limit their number of sexual contacts to prevent transmission of the virus.
Monkeypox is now detected in 19 US states. Some of these cases have only tested positive for orthopox virus – a family that includes monkeypox – but it is highly likely that they will be confirmed as a tropical disease.
Pictured above are early spot symptoms triggered by monkeypox. They become concave after scars appear and darken before eventually falling off
The pictures above are the symptoms caused by a monkeypox infection. Anyone with these warning signs is being urged to come forward
The Pennsylvania case was disclosed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a dashboard update.
It is not currently known whether monkeypox infection is suspected or confirmed.
The majority of reported cases test positive for the orthopox virus — the family that includes monkeypox and smallpox — before being sent to the CDC for confirmation swabs.
Monkeypox is usually spread through physical contact with infectious skin lesions in patients.
People who are infected have a fever within the first 21 days, before a rash develops on their face and spreads to the rest of the body.
Symptoms can take up to four weeks to heal as the rash goes through several stages before eventually falling off.
Most cases are mild, but one in 10 and one in 100 people who become infected die from the disease.
New York has the most cases in the US, followed by California and Florida – both of which have detected three infections.
Colorado and Utah have both observed two, while Georgia, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington and Pennsylvania have detected one.
After three cases were reported in ‘close contact’ of initial patients, there are now indications that the virus is spreading on American soil.
However, the outbreak is much worse globally – particularly in Europe.
Spain has reported the most cases on the continent (208), followed by England (188) and Portugal (119).
WHO chiefs suggest the continent’s outbreak is linked to unprotected sex in two waves in Spain and Belgium.
Currently, most cases are in gay and bisexual men, but health chiefs have warned that nothing can stop the disease from spreading to other groups.
There are also growing calls to contain the outbreak, with experts saying the virus could spread to animal populations – which would become a reservoir – if allowed to spread.
On Wednesday, the head of the WHO’s European division, Dr Hans Kluge, called on people to reduce their number of sexual partners to help contain the outbreak.
He also warned that the tropical disease ‘cannot adjust’ in Europe because there are still undetermined chains of transmission.