(Radio Iowa) – The World Health Organization is declaring an international health emergency over m-pox, what used to be known as monkeypox, though -no- cases are reported in Iowa and generally, Iowans are just warned to be aware. Brian Simmons, an infection preventionist with Gundersen Health System, explains how m-pox is transmitted and what it does. “Mpox is a virus that is spread either through close contact with family members or through sexual contact,” Simmons says. “It is a virus that can cause sores that we see on different parts of the body. It’s very similar to what smallpox might have looked like years ago.”

Symptoms of m-pox include: fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a rash or blisters. It can be fatal, especially a strain that’s appearing primarily in African nations. “The newer strain of mpox is more virulent than what the previous strain was that we saw a few years ago, that we actually saw around here in the United States, even around locally,” Simmons says. “Currently, the newer strain is mostly around or within the sub-Sahara African nations, such as Congo and so on.” The W-H-O has only declared public health emergencies seven times, including for m-pox in 2022.

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Across the U-S, more than 16-hundred m-pox cases are reported this year, twice the number of cases seen by this time last year. Simmons says this virus shouldn’t be a big worry for the majority of Iowans, though people need to stay informed. “For those that could have a high risk for mpox, they may want to consider a vaccine. That still is a way to combat against mpox transmission,” Simmons says. “For those that are very low risk for mpox, just being aware of what’s going on in the world, or if you’re traveling to areas of Africa that have it endemic in those areas.”

State health officials say a limited amount of m-pox vaccines are available to eligible individuals in 13 Iowa counties: Black Hawk, Cerro Gordo, Des Moines, Dubuque, Johnson, Linn, Polk, Pottawattamie, Scott, Story, Washington, Webster and Woodbury.