TAMPA, Fla. — With nearly 2,000 reported cases of monkeypox in Florida, that puts the state third, behind California and New York for having the highest number of cases in the U.S.
A Tampa Bay area man who recently had monkeypox shared his experience living with the virus. He asked not to be identified because of the stigma associated with the disease.
“As it started with one and then grew to five, we were looking up physical characteristics of monkeypox to kind of see what they would look like,” said the man.
He called Dr. Bob Wallace’s office in St. Petersburg to set up an appointment.
“From there, you know, he looked at the lesions that I had on my body, and at the point, I quarantined myself at home.”
He said symptoms included spots on the body, chills, fever, and body aches. Coincidentally, he received his first dose of the monkeypox vaccine just two days before noticing symptoms.
“So, they believe that the vaccine actually helped it control the spread and help it heal faster. My lesions really did heal a lot quicker than most people’s,” said the man.
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So, what is monkeypox, where did it come from and why are we seeing more cases now, locally?
“It’s not new. It’s actually endemic in parts of Africa,” said Dr. Sneed with USF Health.
Dr. Sneed said monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and that the exact origin of the virus - despite its name - is still unknown.
According to the CDC, there have been more than 18,000 cases of monkeypox in the United States.
Dr. Sneed said we're seeing more cases of the virus among men who have sex with men and people of color.
“Even though African Americans only make up between 12% and 13% of the population, right now they’re making up about 26% of all of the cases that we found in the United States, so far. And the very same thing for Hispanics. They make up about 19% of the population, but we’re finding that they’re 28% of the cases are out there,” said Dr. Sneed.
Health experts believe we may be seeing this disparity because of a lack of access to the vaccine or to vaccine hesitancy, essentially people unwilling to get inoculated.
“One of the things we know about, there is a treatment and we know that there are actually 17 million doses available for treatment for monkeypox if that should become necessary,” said Dr. Bob Wallace in conversation with a colleague.
Dr. Wallace runs the Love the Golden Rule clinic in St. Petersburg and said monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease and anyone can get it.
“We certainly don’t want to label this as an LGBTQ disease. It’s something that we know that the majority of cases have been men who have sex with men, but we know that anyone can get this,” said Dr. Wallace.
He said the virus is usually transmitted from skin-to-skin contact. This means you should not share towels at the pool or beach. Getting vaccinated can offer a level of protection.
“So, we want people not to be afraid, but at the same time to be cautious,” said Dr. Wallace.
As for our interview subject, he recently received his second and last dose of the vaccine and is doing well.
“Make sure that you’re washing your hands. Cleaning any surfaces that might’ve touched anybody’s body. Like, just making sure that you’re taking care of yourself and making sure you’re being cleanly and just being ahead of it,” he advised others.
If you are interested in getting vaccinated against monkeypox, you can visit the the Florida Department of Health's website or call 850-245-4444.
