Local transmission of monkeypox has been reported by Los Angeles County officials, with some recent cases involving people who attended large events here and infected people who have not traveled out of state.
“There has been some of what we call ‘community transmission.’ That is, it is not from travelers or people who went to another place and contracted monkeypox. They actually got monkeypox here in LA County, because it was spread by a person here who had the disease,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said at this week’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
In total, there were 30 suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox in LA County as of Thursday. No one in the county had been hospitalized or died from the disease as of last week.
Meanwhile, the geographic area of the monkeypox outbreak continues to expand.
Orange County reported its first case Wednesday. Public health officials in Riverside and Santa Clara counties reported the same thing last week.
Here is what you need to know regarding the disease and its spread:
Where is monkeypox spreading in Los Angeles County?
“Most of the people who have been diagnosed here in Los Angeles County have been people who attended two very large parties,” Ferrer said this week. “So we’ve done a lot of very targeted outreach to attendees at these events.”
Among humans, monkeypox can be transmitted through sustained skin-to-skin contact with someone who has an active rash. In some cases of the current outbreak, during the early stages of the disease, the rash has been found in the genital area and in or around the anus.
Health authorities have said that some recent cases have occurred among men who have sex with men.
But officials have stressed that anyone can get or spread monkeypox, including family and friends who care for the sick. The virus can also be transmitted through shared bedding and clothing. It is also possible that it spreads through kissing and breathing at very close range.
The main mode of transmission is through skin lesions, which may be filled with infectious pus. It is possible that a person can be contagious without breaks in the skin, such as if a break is in their throat or mouth, and can spread the virus to people.
Monkeypox is nowhere near as contagious as the coronavirus and measles, which can linger in the stagnant air of a room for more than an hour.
What can you do if you have been exposed to monkeypox?
Ferrer said Los Angeles County health officials are creating opportunities for people exposed to the monkeypox virus to get vaccinated once morest the disease in hopes of avoiding infection.
Monkeypox vaccine supplies are limited. County health officials are offering the Jynneos vaccine to reach those most at risk.
What are the authorities doing to expand access to the vaccine?
The Biden administration said Tuesday that federal officials aim to “expand vaccination for people at risk and make testing more convenient for health care providers and patients across the country.”
The US Department of Health and Human Services has already deployed more than 9,000 doses of vaccines; the administration said Tuesday that it will assign “296,000 doses in the coming weeks, 56,000 of which will be assigned immediately.”
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “last week began shipping tests to five commercial laboratory companies, including some of the largest reference laboratories in the country, to further increase the testing capacity of monkeypox and access to them,” the administration said.
What does the monkeypox rash look like?
A freelance video producer and editor, Matt Ford, wrote a BuzzFeed story describing his exposure and infection with monkeypox, including photos of the rash. He said a friend tested positive for monkeypox and contacted him on June 17 to let him know he might have been exposed through skin-to-skin contact.
“Sure enough, I checked myself for stains and noticed a couple of injuries in the underwear area,” Ford wrote. “The next day, I started having intense flu-like symptoms: fever, whole body chills, night sweats, cough, sore throat, and swollen lymph nodes. This lasted regarding a week.”
Ford wrote that he went to the doctor on June 20, had the tests done, and the results were sent to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The injuries “in the underwear area were increasingly intense and quite painful.” The lesions spread to his face and other parts of his body, becoming so painful that he was prescribed painkillers.
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