“An adult at a day care center in the Rantoul area tested positive for a case of monkeypox,” department director Dr. Sameer Vohra said during a press briefing. “Screening of children and other staff is taking place now.”
Officials did not say how many children may have been exposed to the virus. The worker is in isolation and “doing well”. The nursery was also cleaned.
Vohra said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has made the monkeypox vaccine available to children “without going through the normal steps in this process,” so parents of children exposed to the virus can vaccinate their children.
“Paediatricians are on hand as we speak screening children for cases, and there are mobile tests and vaccinations for their families,” he said.
The day educator also works in home care and public health officials are in contact with an affected client.
Public health officials have asked parents to let disease investigators contact them if their child is affected.
“If your child has had the potential to be exposed to this outbreak, you will receive a call from the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. You do not need to call child care. You do not need to call public health. You will be contacted,” district administrator Julie Pryde said.
Monkeypox is mainly spread by prolonged skin-to-skin contact or by contact with contaminated objects.
In the United States, some cases have been reported in women and children as part of the ongoing outbreak, but the virus has been detected primarily in gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with women. men.
Cnn