Officials say illness not associated with school, child care settings – OHA release – PORTLAND, Ore. – A second pediatric case of monkeypox virus (hMPXV) has been identified in the state, Oregon Health Authority (OHA) confirmed. Local public health officials have investigated the case and confirm that the case is not linked to a school, child care or other community setting. “Pediatric monkeypox cases have happened around the country during the nationwide outbreak, and unfortunately Oregon is no exception,” said Dean Sidelinger, M.D., health officer and state epidemiologist at OHA. “As we have stated previously, this virus can affect anyone.” Monkeypox spreads primarily through close skin-to-skin contact. Most commonly during the current outbreak, this has been through intimate or sexual contact. Infection has also occurred during close, skin-to-skin contact with the lesions of an individual with monkeypox through a caregiving relationship, such as a parent caring for a child or an adult caretaker of another person. Much less often, monkeypox could spread through contact with towels, clothing or other objects that have been in contact with monkeypox lesions. Large respiratory droplets or oral fluids that might come from prolonged face-to-face contact could also transmit the virus, but it is uncommon. To protect patient confidentiality, OHA is not disclosing the child’s sex, age, county of residence or how the child is believed to have acquired the illness. A pediatric case is defined as someone with the virus in the 0-17 age range. The new pediatric case is among a total of 204 presumptive and confirmed cases of monkeypox in Oregon, with illness onset ranging from June 7 to Sept. 13. The cases are in nine counties: 141 in Multnomah; 24 in Washington; 22 in Lane; six each in Clackamas and Marion; two in Columbia; and one each in Coos, Hood River and Union. About 9.5% of cases identify as Mexican and 8.9% of cases identify as Other Hispanic or Latino a/x/e. Case counts for South American and Central American were too low to calculate a percent.
