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Mpox, a highly contageous disease which causes rashes and flu-like symptoms, has been detected in an Iowa prison.
It is not known how many confirmed cases there are at Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, but prison staff told local press that they were controlling the situation.
"We’re actively managing the situation with robust health measures,” Iowa Department of Corrections Chief of Staff Paul Cornelius said in a statement to the Des Moines Register, initially reported by KCCI-TV.
He added: “Affected individuals are receiving care, and enhanced sanitation and isolation protocols are in place to prevent further spread.”
And while it is unclear how many prisoners are infected, the strain of the disease found inside the Iowa correctional facility, which has a population of 1,251 according to the state’s official website, has been identified as the less serious clade 2.
Mpox is broken down into two strains: clade 1 and clade 2. Symptons include rashes, fevers and a sore throat, among other things. Clade 1, however, is the far more serious strain of the disease which is rampantly spreading across Africa and has resulted in 517 deaths this year, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Clade 1 has not yet reached the United States, while clade 2 comes with a 99.9 percent survival rate.
It is spread in multiple ways, including “close contact (including intimate or sexual contact) with a person with Mpox, and through contact with contaminated materials,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cases detected at the Fort Dodge facility were the first in Iowa this year, the US CDC confirmed. Only one case was recorded in 2023.
The incubation period for someone who tests positive is usually six to 13 days but can be five to 21 days.
In 2022, outbreaks of clade 1 Mpox struck refugee camps in the Republic of the Sudan and suddenly appeared and spread across Europe, the Americas and all six World Health Organization regions.
Since then, a total of 17,541 cases have been reported in Africa in 2024, including 517 deaths, said Africa CDC.
Globally, over 120 countries experienced Mpox cases from the start of 2022 until now, the WHO said.
The Independent reached out to the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility to confirm the number of cases but is yet to receive confirmation on official statistics.
