The first death due to monkeypox in the US was confirmed in a news release.
The patient was gravely ill and had been hospitalized. There are no other details about the case.
Dr. Jessica Justman, an associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, told Yahoo News that she wasn't surprised by the announcement.
Monkeypox was going to be the cause of death or associated with the death of someone with other medical problems, according to Justman.
California has reported more monkeypox cases than any other state so it makes sense that the first death would happen in the state with the highest number of confirmed cases.
According to the CDC, more than 24,000 confirmed cases have been reported in the U.S. There have been over 63,100 cases and 20 deaths worldwide.
The death of a severely immunocompromised patient with monkeypox was reported in Harris County, Texas, on August 30th, but officials have yet to update on what role, if any, monkeypox played in the person's demise.
The Texas Department of State Health Services commissioner said in a news release last month that monkeys are a serious disease. People who have been exposed to monkeypox are urged to seek treatment.
Those with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of contracting monkeypox. In a group of nearly 2,000 people who were diagnosed with monkeypox between May and July, nearly 38% were also living with HIV, and those who were HIV positive were more likely to be hospitalized with monkeypox.
A common symptom of monkeypox is skin redness. It can be hard to fight off an infectious disease in patients with compromised immune systems.
According to Justman, people with severely compromised immune systems need to be careful about getting exposed to illnesses. These are people who have a hard time clearing infections.
Gay or bisexual men who have sex with other men should get vaccine for monkeypox if they have frequent interactions with people who are most affected by the disease.
Infections from monkeypox have been reported in patients. A report released earlier this month identified two cases of encephalomyelitis, which involves inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, in otherwise healthy individuals who had been diagnosed with monkeypox in the US
Children under 8 years of age, people with a history of eczema and those who are pregnant or breastfeeding are more likely to get seriously ill or die if they contract monkeypox, according to the CDC.
There are still very few deaths from monkeypox. The death in Los Angeles does not change Justman's view of the monkeypox outbreak in the U.S.
According to Justman, the news doesn't change anything for people with normal immune systems.
We don't need to panic. People were worried about opening their mail at the beginning of the show. We didn't need to do that then, and we don't need to do that now for monkeypox
The White House monkeypox response team made no mention of the deaths in Los Angeles or Texas, but expressed cautious optimism about the outbreak as new cases in the U.S. and abroad continue to decline. Cases in some parts of the U.S. continue to rise, but overall cases are down since peaking in August. The decrease was attributed to a multitiered approach that included scaled-up testing efforts, education and outreach.
"We're encouraged by the case rate of rise declining, and yet we are keeping the gas pedal heavily, heavily downward, pedal to the metal, and we continue the vigilance here," the CDC director said.
The decline in the case count is due to education efforts, the work being done to vaccine at-risk individuals, and people who have made informed decisions to make temporary changes to their behavior to protect themselves and their community.
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