First case of mpox detected in Connecticut

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]Also right now at 11, a brand new variant of Empox has been detected here in Connecticut after the state reported its first positive case. Amanda Callahan is your reporter live at Hartford Hospital after talking with the doctor about the risks. Amanda, well Mark, they're not saying exactly where this person tested positive.

[00:00:19]However, the Department of Public Health said the person recently traveled to Western Europe where this particular strain of the virus is spreading.

[00:00:26]However, they are stressing that there is no risk to the general public. A Connecticut resident tested positive for clad one monkey pox, the first case in the state. Empox has been spreading throughout the country since an outbreak in 2022, but this is a different variant group.

[00:00:42]>> The difference between the two of them is clad one sometimes tend to can cause more severe disease.

[00:00:48]>> Hartford Hospitals Dr. Paul Anthony says the virus spreads quickly and is transmitted when someone comes in contact with a person infected. It's transmitted by close contact which you will have when people are having sex but also it can be in household contacts if people are not taking precautions when someone has the disease. But like the vast majority of cases we see in men who have sex with men and or sometimes men who are bisexual.

[00:01:15]>> Symptoms to look out for include fever and a headache. But the biggest sign is a rash.

[00:01:19]>> Most likely it's not going to necessarily resolve without our help.

[00:01:24]So, I would say check in and the lesions may take a long time to resolve and they are contagious until it has uh healed completely.

[00:01:33]>> But Dr. Anthony says good news, there's a vaccine.

[00:01:36]>> It's a twod do series. So, I'd say now is maybe the moment to check in with your provider to see if you at risk and then get vaccinated if you haven't done so already.

[00:01:47]While the virus is contagious until that rash has fully healed, the person is also contagious up to four days before symptoms even start to show. report live in Hartford.