Monkeypox joins polio on list of previously obscure diseases parents in the state need to worry about
New York state has reported its first case of monkeypox in a minor under the age of 18, according to a weekly summary from the Department of Health. To protect the privacy of the patient’s family, few details were included in the report for the week ending Wednesday and released Friday.
The child is known to live outside of New York – the outbreak’s hotspot in the United States – as he reported no cases of pediatric monkeypox on Sunday. Nine other cases have been reported in children in the United States.
Monkeypox has so far been largely concentrated in gay men with multiple sex partners — the CDC reported last week that 99% of patients were men and 94% of those who had recently had sex with men. However, the latest numbers from New York include two women, along with three identified as transgender or non-binary and three listed as simply “unknown.” About 16 women and 48 trans or non-binary New Yorkers have the virus, according to the Department of Health, of the 2,744 state residents reported as infected.
New York — specifically New York City — has been the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States since July. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern last month, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul followed suit by declaring a state of emergency. emergency and making the virus an immediate threat to public health.
No deaths have been reported in the United States from monkeypox, a chickenpox-like virus that causes painful and lasting blisters and pustules but is usually not fatal. The virus is transmitted primarily through bodily fluids and skin-to-skin contact, as well as contact with clothing or bedding used by an infected person.