OHIO — As Ohio waits to see if a probable monkeypox case becomes a confirmed case, we are learning more about the virus.
News Center 7′s Molly Koweek spoke to a local doctor about how people can keep themselves safe from the disease.
>> Ohio Department of Health reports state’s first probable monkeypox case
Doctor Roberto Colon, Chief Medical Officer for Miami Valley Hospital, says the primary way to spread monkeypox is through skin to skin contact, particularly with the lesions that the virus creates.
He said it can also spread through secretions, but that people need to have prolonged close contact.
For someone who gets the virus, they will experience certain symptoms.
Colon said the incubation period is about two weeks, and then people will experience fatigue, chills, muscle aches and lymph node swelling.
A day or two later, lesions start on the face and extend throughout the body.
He said people are contagious until all of those lesions have scabbed over, which can take four to six weeks.
News Center 7 asked Colon if this was going to start another pandemic.
“I sure hope not. It is very unlikely that were are going to see this circulating and have this sustained person to person transmission like we saw with COVID, which is a much easier virus to pass from one person to the other,” Colon said.
News Center 7 reached out to the Ohio Department of Health to see if the state has been able to confirm that one probable case yet.
We will continue updating this story as we learn more.
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