McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The number of monkeypox cases in the Texas border county of Hidalgo jumped to six, health officials said Monday.
Since the first case was discovered on Aug. 16 in Cameron County, there have been at least eight cases in South Texas. This includes six cases reported by Hidalgo County Health and Human Services Department, one case in Laredo and one case in Cameron County.
Statewide, Texas had 1,929 cases on Monday.
Texas has the fifth-highest rate of monkeypox of any state in the nation, following California, Florida, New York and Georgia, according to the CDC.
“Unlike COVID, this disease is more difficult to spread because it involves physical contact with an infected person versus the airborne spread of COVID,” Eduardo Olivarez, chief administrative officer for the Hidalgo County Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.
