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Monkeypox Spreading in North Texas

A electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions
A electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions. | Image from Center from Disease Control

North Texas public health officials are finding cases of local transmission in the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.

A press release issued on Tuesday by Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) stated that the county had at least 14 confirmed cases of monkeypox, one of which was contracted by a person attending the Daddyland Festival over the July 4 weekend.

The threat of monkeypox to the general Dallas County population remains low,” stated the release. “Monkeypox is rare and does not spread easily between people without close, personal, skintoskin contact.”

For its part, Tarrant County Public Health (TCPH) reported its second confirmed case of monkeypox on Wednesday. It told CBS News that the second case had to result from exposure in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, as the infected individual had no travel history during the virus’s incubation period.

Denton County reported its first case last week, also contracted by someone without a recent travel history.

Texas currently stands as the state with the seventh greatest number of confirmed monkeypox cases in the country, clocking 42 as of Wednesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), out of a total of 1,470 cases spread out across the United States.

Monkeypox is a rare disease transmitted through contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids and skin lesions or by sharing personal items such as the clothes, towels, or bedding of an infected person.

While the virus is not considered especially transmissible, it can be spread through respiratory droplets produced by coughing and sneezing. However, prolonged exposure in the close vicinity of an infected person is usually required for transmission.

Following a non-contagious incubation period of one to two weeks, individuals infected with monkeypox may initially show symptoms like body pains, fever, and swollen lymph nodes before finally developing skin lesions.

As reported by The Dallas Express, monkeypox is primarily spreading within sexual networks of men who have sex with men. However, anyone engaging in prolonged skin-to-skin contact with an infected person can contract monkeypox, according to the CDC.

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4 Comments

  1. caseyp

    Monkey Pox and enough Covid variants to warrant the CDC to recommend wearing masks again, just in time for the upcoming election. Fool us once shame on you. Fool us twice shame on us.

    Reply
    • caseyp

      Every Republican and Conservative MUST NOT think that we have this election in the bag and MUSTgo vote in person. Do not mail in a ballot.

      Reply
  2. caseyp

    Simple searches show that Monkey Pox in the US is common. Nothing has changed in recent years except that there is an election coming up and Democrats are in big trouble so there needs to be some sort of fear instilled in voters. Even Dr. Fauci (who nobody believes anymore because of his past false Covid statements) has jumped on the Monkey Pox train. Because Fauci is THE highest paid federal employee he’s going to do and say anything and everything the Democrats tell him to do and say. He doesn’t want to lose his job.

    Reply
    • Linda

      I did a simple search, as you suggested This is what I found. “U.S. monkeypox cases are very rare. Monkeypox does not occur naturally in the United States, but cases have happened that were associated with international travel or importing animals from areas where the disease is more common.”

      Reply

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