First US monkeypox case identified hours after a CDC official expressed concern about unusual outbreak across Europe

• A case of monkeypox has been confirmed in a man in Massachusetts.
• The man is hospitalized and in good condition, and his case "poses no risk to the public," according to state officials.

A single case of monkeypox has been confirmed in Massachusetts, days after new clusters were reported in the UK and Europe.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced that an adult male who recently traveled to Canada was tested for monkeypox virus late Tuesday. In a press release Wednesday, the agency said the case was confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The individual is hospitalized and in good condition, according to MDPH. Local health authorities are working to identify any close contacts who may be infected, but the department said the case "poses no risk to the public."

Human monkeypox infections are rare, as the virus does not spread easily between people. Transmission can occur via contact with bodily fluids, including respiratory droplets in situations with prolonged face time (i.e.: intimate contact). Most infections are mild and last two to four weeks, according to MDPH.

The case in Massachusetts is the first monkeypox case to be identified in the US in 2022. Since early May, at least seven cases have been confirmed in the UK, and additional clusters were reported in Portugal and Spain this week.

In 2021, Texas and Maryland each reported a case of monkeypox, both with connections to recent travel to Nigeria, where the virus is endemic. The latest cases have raised concern among public health officials because of the possibility of local transmission; half of the cases reported in the UK in May had not recently traveled outside of the country.

"If there appears to be unknown chains of transmission, it just puts us on alert to be thinking: Could this be spreading outside the UK?" CDC official Jennifer McQuiston told STAT Tuesday, before cases were announced outside the UK.

"We do have a level of concern that this is very different than what we typically think of from monkeypox," she said.