GREENSBORO, N.C. — Davidson County reported it's first case of Monkeypox in the triad Tuesday.
After WFMY News 2 posted this story viewers wondered about how the virus is spread.
THE QUESTION
Can you only get Monkeypox through sexual contact?
OUR SOURCES
- Janna Walker, Public Health Strategist for Davidson County Health Department
- Kenya Godette, Communications Manager for Guilford County Health Department
- CDC
Our experts say it's primarily through prolonged physical touch with an infected person.
"We're talking about somebody that you're intimate with or in a relationship with those are the cases that we're really looking at," Walker said.
According to the CDC, you can also get the virus by kissing, cuddling, even touching linens or clothing used by an infected person.
THE ANSWER
So, no you can't only get Monkeypox through sexual contact.
There are plenty of other questions about Monkeypox-so let's run through a couple.
FIRST QUESTION
What are the symptoms?
The CDC says fever, headache, muscle aches and a rash anywhere on the body that can look like pimples or blisters.
"I do wanna point out that you can get the rash and not have the other symptoms or you can get symptoms like a headache and not have the rash sometimes the onset of these two symptoms don't always happen at the same time," Godette said.
SECOND QUESTION
Is the virus as serious as Covid-19?
Our experts say there's still a lot of research to do, but say it's rarely fatal with low spread. In fact, on June 14th, the CDC said there hadn't been a single confirmed death anywhere in the country.
"So if you are one of these individuals you may come in contact with somebody that has open lesions or sores where you do some cleaning in different areas where you handle linens or clothes of other people take precautions," Walker said.