A Texas toddler younger than 2 appears to have tested positive for monkeypox, a Houston-area leader confirmed Tuesday.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said officials have yet to determine how the child contracted the disease, noting the tot hasn’t been in daycare or school. The presumed case won’t be confirmed until testing is done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 1,000 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in Texas. AP“The child is currently expected to have a full recovery, is doing very, very well,” Hidalgo said during a press conference streamed by KHOU 11.
She said the only symptom the child is showing is a rash.
Contact tracing is underway, but no one has appeared to have caught the virus from the child yet, Hidalgo said. The child’s parents are also cooperating with officials.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo talks during a press conference Tuesday, August 16, 2022. KHOU“This case in Harris County is one of only a handful of cases in young children nationwide,” she said. “I understand that it’s a very scary thing and parents have concern.”
There have been over 1,000 monkeypox cases in Texas, according to the CDC.
New York has the most cases in the nation with 2,620.
The CDC says monkeypox can be caught through close, personal, and often skin-to-skin contact.
