At Least 8 Children in the U.S. Have Now Tested Positive for Monkeypox

There have been at least eight confirmed cases of monkeypox in children in the United States.

According to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the eighth confirmed case of monkeypox in the United States is believed to be a child under the age of two, and this is also the first pediatric case of monkeypox reported in Texas.

“I understand that it’s a very scary thing, and parents have concerns, and what we need to make sure is to be vigilant and understand the risks, not assume the worst. But this reminds us that this is very real,”  Hidalgo said during a press conference on Tuesday.

The child’s parents told officials that, other than a residual rash, their kid has been completely asymptomatic.

“The child is currently expected to have a full recovery and is doing very well… We are in contact and have been in contact with the family, who are fully cooperative. The family has helped us initiate contact tracing with the folks that this child has been in contact with. We are still in the early stages of contact tracing,” Hidalgo added.

It is still unknown how the child contracted monkeypox, Hidalgo said.

More from ABC:

The news of the positive pediatric case in Texas comes after a child in Martin County, Florida, has tested positive for monkeypox, according to state health data. The child in Florida is between the ages of 0 and 4 years old, according to the state health data.

Officials in Maine also announced Friday that they, too, had confirmed a positive monkeypox case in a child. No further information about the case has been released due to concerns over patient privacy, officials said.

“Maine CDC [Center for Disease Control and Prevention] is working to identify any others who may have been exposed and make vaccination available to close contacts,” officials wrote in a press release.

In addition to the cases in children reported in Maine and Florida, two cases have been confirmed in California, as well another two in Indiana, and a case in a non-U.S. resident reported in Washington, D.C.

Hidalgo stated that although monkeypox cases in children are rare,  “we always knew that any person in this community can contract monkeypox. We knew that it was possible for a child to be exposed. Anyone can get this virus, so this isn’t entirely unexpected.”

The Gateway Pundit reported on Tuesday that scientists had reported the first human-to-pet transmission of monkeypox when the dog of a gay French couple became infected after sharing a bed with its infected owners.

The gay couple said that they continued to share their bed with their dog. Who said they had been careful to prevent their dog from contact with other pets or humans from the onset of their own symptoms

It took less than two weeks after they were told they had the viral disease before their dog started showing symptoms of monkeypox, including pustules on its stomach.

The current outbreak of monkeypox has mainly affected gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with other men.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is the latest Democrat to declare a monkeypox state of emergency following New York.

Per CDC, monkeypox is transmitted by symptomatic individuals through close contact with lesions, bodily fluids, or respiratory secretions and objects that have had contact with lesion crusts or bodily fluids, face-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling, or sex.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidelines instructing the public on how to mitigate the risk of transmitting monkeypox while engaging sexually with a partner.

“Masturbate together at a distance of at least 6 feet, without touching each other and without touching any rash,” the CDC continues. “Consider having sex with your clothes on or covering areas where rash is present, reducing as much skin-to-skin contact as possible. If the rash is confined to the genitals or anus, condoms may help; however, condoms alone are likely not enough to prevent monkeypox.”

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