The staff of the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department held a Monkeypox Tabletop Exercise on Wednesday to go through a number of scenarios about what needed to be done and steps to take if monkeypox shows in the region, from testing to precautions and more. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — The Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department is preparing if monkeypox makes an appearance in the region.

Staff held a Monkeypox Tabletop Exercise on Wednesday to go through a number of scenarios about what needed to be done and steps to take if monkeypox shows in the region, from testing to precautions and more.

A case was recently confirmed in Berkeley County, the first in West Virginia.

On the MOVHD website, officials said its symptoms include a flu-like illness with fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion and enlarged lymph nodes. A characteristic rash, like blisters or pimples, occurs a few days later, the website said. It typically lasts 2-4 weeks and usually ends without specific treatment.

It does not spread as easily as respiratory diseases like COVID-19, and people with monkeypox in the current outbreak generally report having close, sustained physical contact with others who had monkeypox, the website said.

This 1997 file photo provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the right arm and torso of a patient whose skin displayed a number of lesions due to what had been an active case of monkeypox. (AP Photo)

People are advised if they have a new/unexplained rash or other symptoms, contact their healthcare provider to be checked.

Currently, prevention measures include washing hands with soap and water/use hand sanitizer. If someone has monkeypox, they are advised to isolate themselves from others and disinfect cars/homes where the infected individual spent significant time. Healthcare workers should use PPE when caring for patients.

Monkeypox can resemble syphilis, said Becky Eaton, Head of the Clinical Department for the health department.

There has been an outbreak of syphilis lately in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

“Many people thought the rash was going to look the same,” Eaton said. “It doesn’t.”

This 1997 image provided by the CDC during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and depicts the dorsal surfaces of the hands of a monkeypox case patient, who was displaying the appearance of the characteristic rash during its recuperative stage. (AP Photo)

With monkeypox, the rash changes every few days with blisters and then with an infection with puss within the blisters. It then crusts over. However, other people can become infected during any of those stages, she said.

“But when you have one infection, it is potential to have more than one,” Eaton said.

A scenario they discussed was a man who had both monkeypox and syphilis.

Eaton said the rash for syphilis is a bump that doesn’t hurt and goes away. With monkeypox, it itches and the lymph nodes will become swollen. It has mostly been around the head and works its way down the body. Depending on how it was contacted, there could be genital involvement as well.

However, there is a variant and it can present on any part of the body the lesion touches, Eaton said.

Officials believed there was a gathering overseas where men were having sex with men and that is where the initial outbreak of monkeypox began, but Eaton warned it is not limited to homosexual men and that anyone can get it if they come in contact with it.

“Everyone is at risk if you happen to be around and touch somebody who has a blister who was in contact with someone with monkeypox,” she said. “We have to get that word out that everyone has the same risk factors.”

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com