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By Beth Stibal |

CDC: “Monkeypox is in Broward County”

Monkeypox
This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Monkeypox, a disease that rarely appears outside Africa, has been identified by European and American health authorities in recent days. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP)

Doctors say Florida’s first presumptive case of monkeypox has been diagnosed in Broward county.

The Florida Department of Health in Broward County traced the case to international travel and placed the patient in isolation. The department says this appears to be isolated and the are not treating any additional cases.

The Florida DOH is notifying anyone who may have been exposed and the CDC is investigating the case.

Monkeypox
This 1997 image provided by CDC, shows the right arm and torso of a patient, whose skin displayed a number of lesions due to what had been an active case of monkeypox. As more cases of monkeypox are detected in Europe and North America in 2022, some scientists who have monitored numerous outbreaks in Africa say they are baffled by the unusual disease’s spread in developed countries. (CDC via AP)

On Friday, the CDC warned that cases of monkeypox were found in New York and Massachusetts.

If you have had the smallpox vaccine, you are likely cross-protected against monkeypox according to the FDOH. Unfortunately, The smallpox vaccine is no longer available to the public. In 1972, routine smallpox vaccination was ended in the United States.

The virus originates in primates, thus the name monkeypox, and causes fever, body aches, chills, and fatigue.  In severe cases patients develop a pus-filled rash and lesions on the face, hands and other parts of the body.

Monkeypox is difficult to transmit and requires prolonged contact, according to the CDC.