Wastewater in Pierce County returned positive results of clade 1 mpox virus, known as monkeypox, following testing on Sept. 24 by the University of Washington (UW) and Washington State Department of Health (DOH).

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (THD) will work with DOH to increase wastewater testing to monitor the situation, THD announced .

Currently, there have not been any reported cases of monkeypox in Pierce County.

Two viruses can cause monkeypox: clade 1 and clade 2. THD noted that a vast majority of monkeypox cases in the U.S. are caused by the clade 2 virus.

Six cases of clade 1 monkeypox have been reported in the U.S. in people who have recently traveled to countries with current outbreaks of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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