INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County Public Health Department is reporting additional presumed positive cases of monkeypox, bringing the total number of cases in Marion County to 17. The health department announced its first two monkeypox cases on July 13. The Indiana Department of Health reported 45 total monkeypox cases in the state.
The cases span from June 18 through July 28 and include two pediatric patients, according to IDOH.
The number of monkeypox cases continues to rise across the United States and globally, and more cases are expected in Marion County.
The most common symptoms, according to the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), are a rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appears on the face, inside the mouth, and on other parts of the body; fever; swollen lymph nodes; body aches; and exhaustion.
Isolation of monkey pox cases is necessary during their infectious period. Monkeypox can spread from the time symptoms start until the rash has fully healed and a fresh layer of skin has formed. The illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks.
The Marion County Public Health Department is administering monkeypox vaccine post-exposure to those individuals determined by the health department to be a known contact to a monkeypox case.
Monkeypox can spread through person-to-person contact in several different ways, such as:
• Direct contact with monkeypox rash, sores, or scabs from a person with monkeypox. This is believed to be the most common way that virus is spreading in the U.S.
• Contact with objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels), and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox.
• Contact with respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling, or sex.
• During pregnancy the virus can spread to a fetus through the placenta.
The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency on July 23 amid global efforts to contain the outbreak.
For more facts and information, please visit CDC.gov/monkeypox.