DALLAS — The state health department has released its latest numbers on monkeypox cases in Texas on Tuesday.
According to the Department of State Health Services, 231 Texans have been diagnosed with monkeypox, 113 of those in the North Texas area. This is the most of any reported region group in Texas.
The North Texas area includes Texas Public Health Regions 2 and 3 within the department.
There has also been three confirmed female cases of monkeypox in Texas, Tuesday's report showed. The state's other 228 cases have been men.
While many of the symptoms of monkeypox mimic the flu, sores and lesions are what sets it apart.
Person-to-person transmission of monkeypox is primarily through direct contact with infectious lesions, scabs, or body fluids. Anyone who has sores or a rash caused by the virus is infectious until they are fully healed.
The threat of the disease to the general population in Dallas County remains low, Dallas County Health and Human Services said. Monkeypox doesn't spread easily between people without close, skin-to-skin contact and is a rare disease.
More public updates from Dallas County on confirmed monkeypox cases can be found on their website here. More general information on the disease can be found on The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) website here.
The CDC is also holding a Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity call Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. to discuss updates on epidemiology, testing, treatment and vaccination.
Texas Public Health Region 2 includes:
- Archer
- Baylor
- Brown
- Callahan
- Clay
- Coleman
- Comanche
- Cottle
- Eastland
- Fisher
- Foard
- Hardeman
- Haskell
- Jack
- Jones
- Kent
- Knox
- Mitchell
- Montague
- Nolan
- Runnels
- Scurry
- Shackelford
- Stephens
- Stonewall
- Taylor
- Throckmorton
- Wichita
- Wilbarger
- Young
Texas Public Health Region 3 includes:
- Collin
- Cooke
- Dallas
- Denton
- Ellis
- Erath
- Fannin
- Grayson
- Hood
- Hunt
- Johnson
- Kaufman
- Navarro
- Palo Pinto
- Parker
- Rockwall
- Somervell
- Tarrant
- Wise