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The first known death attributed to monkeypox was confirmed in Los Angeles County on Monday (September 12).
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, confirmed that a "resident was severely immunocompromised and had been hospitalized" prior to their death in a news release shared on the department's website.
The health department said additional information will not be made public in an effort to protect confidentiality and privacy.
“Persons severely immunocompromised who suspect they have monkeypox are encouraged to seek medical care and treatment early and remain under the care of a provider during their illness,” the news release states.
The Los Angeles County resident's “impaired immune system could not control the virus once it entered his body, the virus multiplied in an uncontained fashion and it likely spread to several organ systems, causing their malfunction," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, confirmed in an email sent to CNN on Tuesday (September 13).
Deaths linked to monkeypox are extremely rare and most often occur in babies, pregnant women and individuals with weakened immune systems, which includes patients battling HIV.
A person in Harris County, Texas is reported to have had Monkeypox prior to their death, however, the virus' role in their death hasn't been confirmed, according to CNN.
A total of 22,000 cases of probable or confirmed monkeypox cases have been reported in the U.S. in 2022, with California accounting for 4,300 cases, the most of any state, according to data shared by the CDC.