An adult at an Illinois day care center has tested positive for monkeypox, and some children may have been exposed to the virus, Illinois health officials announced Friday.
At this time, officials did not disclose the number of children who may have been exposed to the virus. Children and staff at the daycare, located in the Rantoul area of Illinois near Champaign, are currently being tested, and no additional cases have yet been discovered.
“All available state, local and federal resources are being deployed to assist the families,” state officials said during a news conference Friday afternoon. “Pediatricians are on site as we speak to screen the children’s cases and are mobile testing and vaccinations for their families. Health officials will continue to reach out to families and provide information and resources in the coming days.” .
The daycare has been cleaned and is still open, officials said.
“People who have been exposed potentially don’t need to be quarantined, so they’re being screened and evaluated. Anyone who has a slight suspicion, we’re going to put them in isolation pending any kind of results, but they have guidance for the cleanup and they’ve probably done a lot more than necessary,” officials said.
This 2003 electron microscope image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from from a human skin sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak.
CDC via AP, file
The person with smallpox “also works in home health care” and health officials have been in contact with the only client who has been affected.
“The person with monkeypox is in isolation, is being medically monitored and is doing well,” the officials added.
The disease is usually spread through prolonged skin-to-skin contact with wounds or bodily fluids of infected people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to the lesions, which may appear as pimples or blisters, the most common symptoms associated with monkeypox are swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches.
Officials reported that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker had been in contact with the White House and, at the state’s request, “the Food and Drug Administration has authorized the use of the vaccine for anyone under the age of 18, without jumping through the normal hoops in the process.”
“This means that anyone with the approval of their guardian will be vaccinated today,” officials said.
ABC News has reached out to the FDA and the White House to clarify whether a formal authorization has been made for children to receive the JYNNEOS vaccine.
On Tuesday, the FDA confirmed to ABC News that “numerous” children have been granted access through a special permit process that works on a case-by-case basis.
If a doctor decides that a person under the age of 18 was exposed to monkeypox and the benefit of the vaccine is greater than any potential risk, they can submit a request to the FDA. In a statement, the FDA said numerous such requests have been granted, but did not say exactly how many.
At this time, the majority of confirmed cases of monkeypox nationally and globally in the current outbreak have been detected in gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men. However, health officials have repeatedly stressed that the virus does not discriminate and anyone exposed to monkeypox can contract the virus.
At least five children in the United States have now tested positive for monkeypox, according to state and local officials across the country.
On Thursday, the Biden administration declared the current monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency in the US
Globally, more than 28,000 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in 88 countries, including 7,500 cases reported nationally.