NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Metro Public Health Department is investigating a possible case of monkeypox virus infection in the Nashville area.

Metro Health reported Thursday that testing confirmed an orthopoxvirus infection in Davidson County, with confirmatory testing to be done at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC.) The case is an individual who recently traveled to a country that has reported monkeypox cases, according to a release.

The Nashville health department is reportedly working with the patient and the patient’s health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with them while they were infectious. Metro Health said the individual was not hospitalized, is currently isolated, and is recovering at home.

According to the CDC, monkeypox is a rare disease in the same family of viruses as smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms but milder, and monkeypox is rarely fatal.

The CDC states that the monkeypox virus can spread from person to person through:

• direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs, or body fluids
• respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact
• touching items like clothing or linens that previously touched the infectious rash or body fluids

Description of Illness: Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness. Although infection may begin with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion before the development of rash, many of the cases associated with the 2022 outbreak have reported very mildly or no symptoms other than rash. In some cases, rash and lesions have been limited to the genitourinary area. The characteristic lesions are deep-seated, vesicular, or pustular with a centrifugal distribution; the lesions are well-circumscribed and often umbilicate or become confluent, progressing over time to scabs. The rash can be disseminated. The illness typically lasts for 2-4 weeks.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/case-of-monkeypox-reported-in-davidson-county/