Monkeypox Confirmed in Florida Infant, the Youngest Case in the State
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An infant in Florida has contracted monkeypox.
The Florida Department of Health was notified of a suspected case of monkeypox in an infant in August, reported Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday. The infant was less than two months old and is believed to be the youngest confirmed case in the state.
The infant was brought to the emergency room with a rash on their arms, legs, and trunk, which had been present for 5 days. After running a series of tests, the infant was sent home, only to return two days later with lesions. Eventually they tested positive for monkeypox.
"The infant had no history of travel, no history of acute infections," according to the CDC. However, one of their caregivers had tested positive for monkeypox around the same time. "Possible routes of transmission included shared bed linens and skin-to-skin contact through holding and daily care activities," the CDC said.
The infant was treated with antiviral drug Tecovirmiat and has since fully recovered.
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Monkeypox is very rare in young children; there have only been 27 cases reported in individuals younger than 15 years in the U.S. in 2022.
As of August, the U.S. had 6,617 confirmed cases of monkeypox overall, according to the CDC.
The virus spreads primarily through skin-to-skin contact as well as respiratory droplets. While that may sound similar to COVID-19, Dr. Linda Yancey, infectious disease specialist at the Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, told PEOPLE that "this is not a respiratory virus. It is not like COVID, which spreads primarily through the air."
"Monkeypox is transmitted by skin to skin contact. And that can be any kind of skin to skin contact. I know a lot of the cases here have been transmitted through sex, but it's not a sexually transmitted disease," she explained. "Basically, sex involves a lot of skin to skin contact but so does dancing, so does kissing, so does shaking hands, or doing things like wrestling or football. So there's a bunch of different ways that can be transmitted. Any skin to skin contact is a big risk."
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"That being said, it can be spread by large respiratory droplets," Yancey added. "So if you are face to face with someone for a prolonged period of time, you potentially could spread it that way. But that's not really been the main driver in this particular outbreak, it really has mostly been skin to skin contact."
