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A person who works at an Illinois day care center has tested positive for monkeypox and potentially exposed children are at higher risk of serious consequences from the virus, state officials announced Friday.
Officials are screening children and others who were potentially exposed to the symptoms, and the Food and Drug Administration is allowing children to receive the Jynneos vaccine, which is licensed for adults only. The vaccine can prevent infection or reduce the severity of symptoms after exposure.
What you need to know about monkey pox symptoms, treatments and protection
Authorities said no one else has tested positive. Illinois health officials had determined that 40 to 50 people, many of them children, had potentially been directly exposed to the daycare worker or to items that had been handled by the person, officials said.
“We are casting a wide net,” Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde wrote in a text message Friday night. Pryde said several dozen children have received vaccinations, pending approval from their guardians.
Officials on the new monkeypox coordination team at the White House, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention learned of the daycare worker’s infection early Friday afternoon and they worked to expedite vaccines to potentially exposed people. One official estimated that the paperwork needed to allow children to receive the vaccines was completed within an hour, noting that the sooner a vaccine is administered after exposure, the more likely it is to prevent infection.
Local officials also credited the federal response, which has come under scrutiny in recent weeks by doctors and patients who have complained of unnecessary red tape when trying to access treatments, tests and vaccines. Sameer Vohra, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, on Friday praised federal regulators for allowing the prompt vaccination of exposed children with parental approval and “without jumping through the normal hoops in that process.”
The virus is spread by close contact with an infected person and does not pass through the air. State officials said the daycare worker also works in a home health care setting and they were in contact with the affected client.
Federal officials have confirmed more than 7,500 cases of monkeypox in the United States, overwhelmingly among gay and bisexual men. At least five children have confirmed cases of monkeypox that are believed to be the result of household transmission, according to federal officials.
The case of the daycare worker in Illinois has escalated Concerns among public health authorities that the outbreak will circulate more widely and affect populations most vulnerable to serious outcomes, including children, if not contained, especially as students return to schools and college campuses this fall
Monkeypox illnesses usually resolve within a few weeks, and there are no known deaths in the United States. But for children and people with weak immune systems, the disease can lead to serious medical complications and has a higher death rate in young children in past outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization.
Ask the post: What are your monkey pox questions?
Public health officials are trying to communicate a nuanced message that sexually active gay men are at the highest risk of contracting monkeypox because it is currently being spread through close, often skin-to-skin contact, primarily among men who they have sex with men But, officials warn, viruses don’t always stay in one demographic and can infect anyone.
“An infection anywhere is potentially an infection everywhere,” said Anne Rimoin, a UCLA epidemiologist who has studied the smallpox outbreak and praised officials’ efforts to quickly make vaccines available to those exposed. in Illinois. “The more cases we see, the more opportunities for spread we see, and the more likely these scenarios are to exist.”
Although monkeypox infections can incubate for weeks, Rimoin also stressed that people exposed to the daycare worker in Illinois would not necessarily test positive. “Household contacts don’t always have monkeypox, it’s not as transmissible as the coronavirus,” he said.
The CDC recommends fewer sexual partners to reduce exposure to monkeypox
Although monkeypox, in the current outbreak, is primarily transmitted through close contact during sex between gay and bisexual men, global health authorities warn that it can spread in other ways that often involve prolonged contact, like hugging, kissing and dancing without clothes. Potential sources of spread to children include prolonged holding, hugging and feeding, as well as through shared items such as towels, bedding, cups and utensils.
Last week, the CDC sent a health advisory to doctors alerting them to watch for symptoms of the virus among other vulnerable populations, including children and teenagers. To prevent the virus from spreading between children and caregivers or household members, officials recommend avoiding contact with infected people and their clothing, towels and bedding.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) declared monkeypox a public health emergency on Monday, saying the move would improve coordination among state agencies and speed Illinois’ response to the virus. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra later on Thursday declared a national public health emergency for monkeypox, and Biden administration officials said the move would unlock new funding and authorities that could help to contain the virus and end the outbreak in the United States.
In the Illinois case, the daycare worker with smallpox is in isolation and in good condition, officials said. Authorities said families of potentially exposed children were offered mobile testing and financial assistance to self-isolate if needed.
“Anyone who has even a slight suspicion, we’ll put them in isolation pending any kind of results,” Pryde said.