Health officials in Denton County are carefully tracking the spread of Monkeypox around Texas and the United States. Denton County only has four confirmed cases so far, but the county is bracing for the possibility of more cases in the next few weeks.
"We've been talking to doctors about this for a while," said Dr. Matt Richardson, Director of Public Health. "Monkeypox will continue to evolve over time. It's impossible to overstate the dynamic nature of this outbreak."
Denton County has received some doses of the Monkeypox vaccine. The current protocol calls for those doses to be administered to someone after they have been exposed, but before they begin developing symptoms. The vaccine, if administered within four days of exposure, can prevent the disease.
"If you have a rash-like illness and if it's different than a rash you had before, it does make sense to contact your physician - especially if you were around someone who also had a rash," Dr. Richardson said.
The county has been working with federal health officials on testing for Monkeypox. Dr. Richardson anticipates private testing laboratories increasing their ability to test for the virus over the next few weeks.
"Testing capacity is in hyper-speed. The private laboratories are able to ramp up this testing very, very quickly. I anticipate in August that most of the private laboratories will be able to test for Monkeypox," he said.
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