Few details are available after Metro police reported a county jail inmate with Mpox — formerly known as monkeypox.
“The Clark County Detention Center had one reported case of an individual with monkeypox. That individual is no longer in custody and there are no other reported cases at this time,” according to a statement released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
County health officials did not immediately confirm the case, but issued their own news release Wednesday stating that seven probable and confirmed Mpox cases have been reported so far this year in Southern Nevada.
Officials described “sporadic cases of Mpox in Clark County residents.”
Concern over the viral illness has grown in Europe and Africa in recent weeks. On Aug. 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General declared a public health emergency “of international concern.”
The Southern Nevada Health District said there are two types of Mpox, clade I and clade II. Clade I can cause more severe illness and death and is endemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There has been transmission to neighboring countries resulting in the current outbreak. No cases of clade I have been reported in the United States, SHND said.
“Mpox spreads through close or intimate contact,” Dr. Fermin Leguen, District Health Officer for the Southern Nevada Health District, said in Wednesday’s news release. “The most effective way for those at risk to protect themselves is by receiving two doses of the Mpox vaccine if eligible.”
The SNHD website currently states 317 probable and confirmed cases to date. The last available weekly report posted was in October 2023, when there were 301 known cases. A total of 11,745 vaccines have been administered at SNHD-affiliated clinics, the website reports.
