Should You Be Concerned? 20 Positive Cases of Monkeypox in Texas

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I know that this may be the last thing that you want to hear, but there's another exotic virus making its way through the human population right now.  Luckily, this "break-out" is nothing like the world-encompassing COVID-19 pandemic that we just emerged from - yet.

Health care officials in Texas are reporting a sharp spike in Monkeypox cases, especially in the Houston area.  According to KHOU, 20 cases of the virus infecting a human host have been confirmed - and 8 of those are in the Greater Houston area alone.

According to the Department of Health Services, the disease is spread from person to person through saliva, skin-to-skin contact, and in certain circumstances "prolonged face-to-face contact via respiratory droplets."  Those who are unfortunate enough to be infected by this virus can develop the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Headache
• Muscle aches
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Chills
• Exhaustion
• Rash that looks like pimples or blisters; the rash often appears first on the face and/or inside the mouth and then on other parts of the body

Health care officials report that the first cases were from travelers returning to the United States from Mexico.  Since then, the spread of this disease is being done domestically.

According to the report, all of the patients with confirmed cases of Monkeypox are men.  Many of them reportedly passed to each other while having sex.  Health care officials warn that gay men should take extra precaution when choosing a partner and avoid any and all contact if they have a rash.