Dallas County records first monkeypox case in 2022
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Dallas County has recorded its first case of the monkeypox virus this year.
Driving the news: Health officials reported Tuesday that a Dallas County resident tested positive for the virus after traveling internationally.
- Officials did not share when the resident traveled but said airline and health workers are contacting airline passengers who may have come into contact with the person on the flight from Mexico to Dallas.
Threat level: Dallas saw the first travel-related case of monkeypox in the U.S. in July 2021, after a man returned from Nigeria.
- County health officials said that case prepared them for the possibility the virus could return to Dallas.
- "We've dealt with it before. We’ve dealt with other things like it before. I think we are certainly well-prepared," Dallas County health director Philip Huang told the DMN last week.
What they're saying: "We have determined that there is little known risk to the general public at this time," Huang said in a statement Tuesday. "We are actively working with local health care providers to ensure they are prepared to recognize monkeypox and report suspected cases to public health officials."
Flashback: Dallas recorded the first case of the Ebola virus in the U.S. in 2014.
- Thomas Eric Duncan fell ill days after traveling to West Africa. He died in a Dallas hospital, where two nurses were also infected. They survived.
Zoom out: Monkeypox is spreading in the U.S. with 31 cases confirmed in 12 states and D.C.
- The federal government is shipping treatment drugs and vaccines to eight states that requested them.
Yes, but: Infectious disease experts say the monkeypox outbreak isn't likely to become a global pandemic like the coronavirus.
- The virus, which is related to smallpox, has two main types. The milder Western African type, which has a fatality rate of around 1%, appears to be the strain currently spreading.