The Sedgwick County Health Department has identified the county’s first presumptive positive case of monkeypox.   The case was identified with the help of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

The case involves an adult resident who recently traveled out of state.  No other information has been released.

This is the eighth case of monkeypox in Kansas, but health officials say the risk to the general public continues to remain low.

The Centers for Disease Control reported Wednesday that monkeypox cases have been in decline in the U.S, and new cases are down 15 percent since the beginning of August.   White House monkeypox coordinator Bob Fenton said in a briefing on the matter that the push to get those at risk vaccinated has been successful thus far. He noted the importance of those efforts reaching people of color.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky added that the racial divide has widened as cases decrease. Black men represented 38 percent of monkeypox cases and Latino or Hispanic men accounted for another 25 percent in data from the past week. She said the administration is facing the case decline with “cautious optimism.”