- April 22, 2024
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A monkeypox case has been reported in Flagler County, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The infected individual is between the ages of 25 and 29, according to the state's Reportable Diseases Frequency Report.
This case, the first this year in Flagler, is one of 346 reported around the state and 4,639 around the country.
Of the Florida cases, about half — 166 — are in Broward County, while another 92 are in Miami-Dade County.
Flagler is one of 17 Florida counties that has had at least one reported case (there are 67 counties in Florida).
There have not yet been any cases reported in Volusia County, St. Johns County or Putnam County.
Monkeypox causes a rash and can also cause headache, fever, lymph node swelling, chills, exhaustion, muscle aches and backaches, and respiratory symptoms like congestion, cough and sore throat, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Some people only get the rash. Others get the rash and other symptoms as well. Symptoms start with three weeks of exposure and usually lasts two to four weeks.
People are contagious as long as they have symptoms.
Monkeypox is spread through close contact.
It can be spread by touching the rash, scabs or body fluids of an infected person and by touching clothing or linens that have touched the rash or body fluids of an infected person, according to the CDC.
It can also be spread by respiratory secretions during intimate face-to-face contact like kissing or cuddling, according to the CDC, and a fetus can become infected through the placenta.
There is a vaccine for monkeypox, but the CDC is recommending it only for people who know that one of their sexual partners in the last two weeks has been diagnosed with the disease; people who've had multiple sex partner in the past two weeks in an area that has known monkeypox, and people who've been identified by public health officials as a contact of someone with monkeypox.
The disease is caused by a virus in the same family as smallpox, but is much milder. It's rarely fatal. The first known U.S. case in 2022 occurred on May 20 in Massachusetts.
