At least 31 children in the United States have tested positive for monkeypox, according to state officials across the country.
In a health alert issued last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that preliminary evidence suggests that children under the age of eight may develop more severe illness if infected with monkeypox.
Children with monkeypox have been recorded in 11 states and jurisdictions across the United States so far. State officials said on Tuesday that nine pediatric cases of monkeypox have been found in Texas alone.
Meanwhile, Florida has detected monkeypox cases among two children under the age of 4.
Since the U.S. confirmed its first case of the year, an adult patient in Massachusetts in mid-May, at least 18,417 people across the nation have tested positive for monkeypox in the ongoing outbreak, according to the latest CDC data.
With 3,291, California currently has the most reported infections, with New York behind with 3,273,followed by Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Illinois, with each state reporting over 1,000 infections, according to CDC data.
Monkeypox is a rare illness caused by infection with the monkeypox virus, part of the same family of viruses as the variola virus, which causes smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms, but less severe and rarely fatal, according to the CDC.
