Arkansas hospitals are working to ensure their medical staff are prepared to handle cases of monkeypox, health officials said Wednesday.
The Arkansas Department of Health confirmed the state's first case of monkeypox Tuesday. The disease has been slowly spreading across the globe, but world health officials believe the risk to the general public to be low.
The first case in the U.S. was found in May. So far, there have been no U.S. deaths from monkeypox.
"If Arkansas follows the patterns of other states, we likely will have additional cases," Health Department Director Jennifer Dillaha said in a news conference Wednesday morning.
She declined to give geographical information about the state's single case.
The virus, while similar to smallpox, is less transmissible and usually causes less severe illness.
According to the Health Department, monkeypox symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain and a painful rash that occur seven to 14 days after exposure. An infected person is no longer contagious when the pustules from the rash become scabs, Dillaha said.
Monkeypox is transmitted through direct skin-to-skin contact with the infectious rash, scabs or body fluids and contaminated items, such as clothing. It can also be transmitted through respiratory fluids during prolonged, face-to-face contact, according to the Health Department.
Scientists warn that anyone who is in close physical contact with someone who has monkeypox, or their clothing or bedsheets, is at risk of infection. Vulnerable populations -- such as children and pregnant women -- are thought more likely to suffer severe disease.
To date, more than 5,000 monkeypox cases have been reported from 51 countries worldwide that don't normally report the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The personal protective equipment hospitals use to prevent the spread of covid-19 can also be used as protection from monkeypox, said Dr. Keyur Vyas, a professor of medicine and infectious disease physician at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The equipment includes gowns, gloves, masks and face shields or goggles.
The St. Bernards Healthcare system in Jonesboro also has plenty of personal protective equipment on hand for employees and has isolation protocols for potential monkeypox patients, spokesman Mitchell Nail said.
"[We are] mostly ensuring our staff is educated on what the signs and symptoms are, especially those working in emergent care because they are on the front lines," he said.
UAMS has made its clinical staff aware of monkeypox in case people seek treatment for it, especially at outpatient clinics, Vyas said.
"The current outbreak in Europe and the U.S. seems to be more outpatient-driven," he said. "People aren't by and large ending up in the hospital with this illness."
Arkansas does not yet have any monkeypox vaccines, but the Health Department hopes to receive some from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "in the near future" now that a case has been found in the state, Dillaha said.
People who have been exposed to or infected with monkeypox will be the Health Department's first priority for vaccine distribution, she said. Vaccination within four days of exposure to the virus can prevent infection, and vaccination between four and 14 days of exposure can limit the severity of symptoms.
UAMS will test potential monkeypox patients, isolate them if they are infected and try to get them vaccinated whenever possible, Vyas said.
"These are pretty standard isolation precautions we'd take for a variety of illnesses, so it's something we're pretty well-prepared for as a health care facility," he said.
Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas in Rogers is also prepared to treat monkeypox infections and "will provide care based on the guidance of infectious disease experts, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health department recommendations," spokesman Nate Kuester said in an email.
Baptist Health has "high-consequence pathogen protocols in place to deal with any infectious condition, including monkeypox," and staff regularly ensures the protocols are up to date, said Cara Wade, Baptist's executive director of corporate communications.
The Health Department will work with monkeypox patients to determine their close contacts that might also be infected and get them tested for the virus, Dillaha said.
In addition to vaccines, the Health Department is also working with the CDC to obtain antiviral drugs that treat monkeypox, Dillaha said. The drugs will not be available over the counter.
Monkeypox is not an airborne illness like covid-19, and it can be fully prevented by vaccination because it has a longer incubation period than covid-19. Conversely, people vaccinated against covid-19 can still be infected afterward but typically experience less severe symptoms than if they were unvaccinated.
The highly contagious omicron subvariant B.A.5 is currently the dominant strain of covid-19 in the U.S. and has been on the rise in Arkansas. The Health Department is more concerned about the spread of covid-19 than monkeypox when children return to school in August, Dillaha said.
"We also know that it's important to do whatever we can to minimize the spread of monkeypox [in schools]," she said. "We have concerns about spread, for example, among athletes, that have close skin-to-skin contact."