First pediatric case of monkeypox in Riverside County; child is younger than 10 years old

A child from western Riverside County is the first pediatric case of monkeypox in the county, according to local health officials. The child, who is less than 10 years old, did not require hospitalization and is recovering at home.

"In this case, what would be a family member to identify any possibility of where that individual might have picked up that MPX," says Dr. Jennifer Chevinsky, the Riverside County Deputy Public Health Officer. And so, for this child, those efforts are underway to better understand what the connection might have been in terms of this child getting the MPX.

Riverside University Health System-Public Health officials were notified about the preliminary positive test result and are still trying to determine the source of the infection.

“This case reminds everyone that MPX can impact anyone, regarding of age, gender, or sexual orientation,” Dr. Geoffrey Leung, public health officer for Riverside County, said.

Parents can watch for symptoms --- which can be similar in children to those seen in adults.

"It can still start with a flu-like illness and can still progress to lesions on the body the rash that you've seen in adults, for children under the age of eight, there is a possibility of heightened severity," says Dr. Chevinsky.

There have been about 256 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Riverside County, the majority coming from Coachella Valley. Palm Springs has the largest number of cases, with 123 total. "

"Overall, the risk to children of getting monkeypox is low," Dr. Chevinsky. "For those kids that are exposed, we are able to offer post-exposure prophylaxis. So in times where there is an intermediate or high-risk exposure, we can provide a vaccine to help prevent or to reduce symptoms from MPX in those that are exposed, and that vaccine is available for young kids into adults".

Fill Out Riverside County's Monkeypox Vaccine Interest Form Here

Health officials say there are several ways to protect yourself from monkeypox, including:

• Avoiding close contact with people with symptoms like sores or rashes
• Practicing good hand hygiene
• Using appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) (like a mask, gown, and gloves) when caring for others with symptoms
• Avoiding contact with infected materials contaminated with the virus
• People who become infected should isolate until their symptoms are improving or have gone away completely. Rash should always be well covered until completely healed.

"I think what's important is just to continue those typical, you know, practices that we've been recommending all along, you know, hand washing, avoid others that are sick," says Dr. Chevinsky. "And then especially if you have a child who has a rash, what we would recommend is that they get checked out by a healthcare provider to help identify what that rash is, in kids rashes are very common. MPY would be a more rare kind of rash for a child to get. So just because your child has a rash, I wouldn't jump to thinking straight away that it's MPX, I would just recommend that they get checked out by a health care provider to evaluate what it could be. And if there is a concern for MPX Of course, the importance of staying home isolating while those tests are being run".

News Channel 3 has reached out to County Health officials for more information on this first pediatric case of monkeypox.