More monkeypox cases confirmed in Fresno County. How much vaccine is now available here?
Fresno County has received more doses of monkeypox vaccine, allowing county health officials to expand eligibility for the shots as more cases crop up.
Dr. Trinidad Solis, deputy health officer with the Fresno County Department of Public Health, reported Thursday that three confirmed cases of monkeypox – a rare viral infection that is related to, but milder than smallpox – have been identified in Fresno County.
Last week, only one case had turned up in the county.
“In general, the risk to the public is fairly low,” Solis said in a video briefing with reporters. “It is not as contagious as COVID-19, but still, we’ve never had this disease before in Fresno County.
Monkeypox is endemic in central and western African nations, but this summer infections are being seen in uncommon numbers in other countries around the world, including in the U.S.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that almost 21,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide in the 2022 outbreak, including more than 20,000 infections in countries that have not historically reported the disease.
Of more than 4,600 cases in the U.S. – the largest number of any country – California has 799. Only New York, with 1,228 cases, has more confirmed infections, the CDC reports.
Where do vaccines stand locally?
Last week, Fresno County had only 20 doses of monkeypox vaccine, called Jynneos, available in its refrigerators, and they were being allocated only to close contacts of what at that time was the only confirmed patient.
People with a high risk of exposure, including health professionals collecting test samples, were also eligible, Solis said.
As of Thursday, the county had 55 available doses as more vaccine was being allocated by the California Department of Public Health. That, Solis said, is allowing for expanding the eligibiilty criteria to receive the first dose of the two-shot Jynneos regimen.
The vaccine is now available to people who have attended events or venues where a known monkeypox exposure has occurred within the previous two weeks.
Also eligible are men who have sex with men and have been diagnosed with gonorrhea, chlamydia or syphilis within the past three months, or who have been newly diagnosed with HIV within the past year.
“We are seeing (that) a majority of these monkeypox cases in California have been identified in men who have sex with men,” Solis said. “But I want to make it clear that this disease can be transmitted to any individual … who comes into contact with this rash.”
Monkeypox is spread through direct skin-to-skin contact with the fluid-filled lesions that appear on an infected person, but “it can also be spread through contact of that infected person’s clothing (or) towels,” Solis said. “That’s one of the main forms of transmission that we’re finding.”
Solis urged people who meet the expanded eligibility to talk to their primary doctor. If the doctor doesn’t have the vaccine, that physician can contact the county health department for doses to be provided.
“The best way to protect yourself is washing your hands,” Solis said. People who already have symptoms including the rash, fever, chills or swollen lymph nodes are advised to stay home and isolate themselves because “that’s when they’re contagious,” she added.
This story was originally published July 28, 2022 at 2:22 PM.
