Sex, rashes and outbreaks: A rational guide to the monkeypox risk

LOS ANGELES — California marked its first suspected case of monkeypox Tuesday, in a person in Sacramento County.

The person, who recently traveled to Europe, is isolating at home and isn’t in contact with other people, health officials said Tuesday.

With case counts in the U.S. relatively low, why are officials paying close attention to this outbreak? And why are they less concerned about monkeypox than about COVID-19?

“We’re concerned enough about the pace at which new cases are developing worldwide that we want to raise everyone’s attention to be very vigilant, so we can try and control this as quickly as possible,” Dr. John Brooks, an epidemiologist for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, said during a briefing.

Here’s what we know:

Why are we hearing about monkeypox now?

Besides the one suspected case in Sacramento County, there has been at least one confirmed case of monkeypox in Massachusetts and four other presumptive cases, two in Utah, one in New York City and one in Florida, the CDC said Monday. All five involved men who had recently traveled internationally.

The U.S. cases come on the heels of clusters of monkeypox