COLORADO SPRINGS — The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) has confirmed a second presumptive monkeypox case and is awaiting confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The new presumptive case is a man who sought care in the Denver area. CDPHE says he is improving while isolating at home.
The man who acquired the virus was a close contact of another individual known to have the first presumptive case of monkeypox. They are cooperating with state and local public health epidemiologists who are investigating and notifying people who may have been exposed.
Quick facts:
- The risk to the public continues to be low.
- Monkeypox is rarely fatal. The version of monkeypox spreading right now in non-endemic countries has a fatality rate of less than 1%.
- There is an effective vaccine for monkeypox that can be administered soon after exposure to prevent or lessen the severity of the illness. The state of Colorado has received vaccines from the federal government.
- Anyone can get monkeypox. The virus does not discriminate against any group.
- Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection but is spread through close contact.
- Brief interactions without physical contact are unlikely to result in transmission.
