Two more Sacramento monkeypox cases bring total to 10 as outbreak persists
Local health officials have detected two more probable cases of monkeypox in Sacramento County, the ninth and 10th infections since the county’s outbreak began in late May.
The two new cases are not linked to any of the county’s eight previous cases, county health spokeswoman Samantha Mott said in an emailed response Tuesday morning, after a Monday update to the health office’s data tracker increased the cumulative total from eight to 10.
The source of exposure for the two new cases remains under investigation, Mott said.
The county health office announced the discovery of the first California monkeypox case May 24, in a resident who recently returned from international travel. Local officials sent the specimen to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab, which confirmed the sample as monkeypox.
Seven additional cases were then detected within a month: four identified via contact tracing linked to the first case, followed by three that were unrelated to the first five and whose cases were linked to domestic travel.
The two latest cases have not yet been confirmed by the CDC as monkeypox, Mott said.
County health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye has said that officials could close the book on the current outbreak after roughly three weeks with no additional cases, due to the incubation period for monkeypox. Health officials on June 21 reported Sacramento County’s eighth case, meaning the county as of Monday had gone 19 days without reporting a new case.
The Sacramento County health office in a Friday news release announced that it was “expanding preventative vaccine availability criteria to include MSM (men who have sex with men) and/or transgender (people) at high risk of exposure to monkeypox,” part of a nationwide expansion of resources to curb the outbreak.
“Individuals who meet high-risk criteria may benefit from getting a two-dose monkeypox vaccine as a form of prevention,” Kasirye said in a prepared statement.
Sacramento County as of June 28 had given 47 first doses and 11 second doses of monkeypox vaccine, Mott said at that time.
The California Department of Public Health, in its most recent update last Thursday, had tallied 141 probable and confirmed monkeypox cases statewide. Monkeypox has been found across several counties in the Bay Area, Southern California and Central Valley.
CDC data updated Monday listed 866 total cases across 39 U.S. states plus D.C. The CDC reported New York with the most at 156 cases, followed by California with 148, Illinois with 122 and Florida with 72.
More than 8,000 cases have been confirmed globally across nearly 60 countries, according to the CDC data updated Friday.
How is monkeypox spread?
Spread of monkeypox is linked to prolonged, skin-to-skin exposure, according to experts.
Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion. The patient typically develops a rash, often beginning on the face and spreading to other parts of the body, normally about one to three days after fever.
The incubation period is typically one to two weeks but can range up to three weeks, and the illness typically lasts two to four weeks, according to a county news release.
Doctors and public health officials urge residents to practice safe sex. These practices may include abstaining from sex, practicing monogamy and using condoms during sex to limit exposure to the virus.
This story was originally published July 11, 2022 at 2:35 PM.
