Cabarrus County reports its first confirmed case of monkeypox. What we know.
Cabarrus County health officials on Friday reported the county’s first confirmed case of monkeypox.
“The patient is currently isolating and has not been hospitalized,” Marcella Beam, Cabarrus Health Alliance chief community health officer said in a statement. The alliance is the county’s health department.
The North Carolina State Lab for Public Health confirmed the case on Friday, Beam said.
Health officials believe the risk of others contracting the disease from the patient “is low, but we know it is likely that we will experience more cases,” Cabarrus Health Alliance Health Director Dr. Bonnie Coyle said in the statement.
The case was first tested locally and reported to the health department on Friday, health officials said.
“We are asking that residents be aware and if they have unexplained rash, sores or other symptoms, they see their health care provider,” Coyle said. “If they do not have a health care provider or health insurance, please contact our agency.”
In Friday’s statement, alliance officials said monkeypox is “a rare but potentially serious viral illness that typically involves flu-like symptoms, swelling of the lymph nodes and a rash that starts flat then becomes bumpy and fluid-filled before scabbing over and resolving.
“Illness could be confused with a sexually transmitted infection like syphilis or herpes, or with chickenpox. Most infections last two to four weeks.”
Since May, 20,804 monkeypox cases have been identified “outside of countries that have historically reported monkeypox, with 4,906 cases identified in the United States and 46 in North Carolina,” according to Friday’s statement.
Health officials in neighboring Rowan County reported their county’s first case on July 15, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
On July 20, Mecklenburg County health leaders said 12 cases of monkeypox had been confirmed in the county, accounting for over half of all cases statewide, the Observer reported.
As the new virus arrives and the BA.5 COVID variant spreads, residents should take precautions against both diseases, Mecklenburg health officials urged.
This story was originally published July 29, 2022 at 8:26 PM.