This differs from how the infection typically progressed in the past, with patients suffering a fever within the first 21 days of infection followed by a rash on the face that then spread to the rest of the body.ĭr Joseph Osmundson, a molecular microbiologist at New York University, has raised fears this could lead to cases being misdiagnosed as a common illness. This week a World Health Organization chief warned the virus - native to West Africa - may have been spreading around the world for years before it was detected after cases multiplied due to unsafe sex at two raves in Europe. Officials at the CDC have not revealed where the patient is based, although it is likely to be either Florida or Pennsylvania. had not recently traveled or being a contact of another known case, suggesting the virus is spreading undetected stateside. Other experts say infections may not be detected because cases can be mild and clear up on their own, leading to patients not coming forward, or get misdiagnosed as a sexually transmitted disease like syphilis.Īmerica's monkeypox cases are mostly among gay and bisexual men and linked to international travel - particularly to Europe, which has spotted about 900 of the 1,000 global cases in 21 countries.īut at least one patient in the U.S. likely already has the same number of infections as the UK - which is currently the world's monkeypox hotspot.īut she said the arduous process of checking swabs - which must be sent to one of 74 local labs and then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC) for confirmation - was leading to too few being done and many being missed. America may already have as many as 300 cases of monkeypox - more than nine times the official tally of 31 - but has missed hundreds due to a lack of testing, an expert warned Monday.ĭr Boghuma Titanji, an infectious diseases expert at Emory University in Georgia, claimed the U.S.