At an Oct. 11 commissioners meeting, commissioners and County Judge KP George voted unanimously to approve a budget increase for sexually transmitted infection and HIV intervention specialists. Commissioners also approved the increase for the Tuberculosis federal program as a separate, department-related item.
As of Oct. 26, there have been 37 reported cases of monkeypox in Fort Bend County. The first probable cases were investigated in mid-July, when the FBCHHS Epidemiology Division and the Houston Health Department Laboratory received preliminary positive results from samples, according to a July 14 press release by the FBCHHS.
Kaila Williams, the department’s director of communications, said the funding increase is due to the increased work necessary to address the monkeypox outbreak in the high-risk population. The money comes from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Additionally, Williams said the county was granted a $101,916 increase to pay for the heightened costs associated with laboratory fees, radiology fees and staff for the tuberculosis program. The county will be responsible to match the grant with $20,383 from its clinical health services fund.
“This grant has been funding tuberculosis response activities in Fort Bend County since 2009 and is subject to increases to keep up with routine increases in service costs,” Williams said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines monkeypox as a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Monkeypox virus is part of the same family of viruses as variola virus, the virus that causes smallpox. Monkeypox symptoms are similar to smallpox symptoms but milder, and monkeypox is rarely fatal.
According to the CDC, monkeypox can spread from person to person through direct contact with an infectious rash, scabs or body fluids.
It also can be spread by respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact or during intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling or sex.
A person with monkeypox can spread it to others from the time symptoms start until the rash has fully healed and a fresh layer of skin has formed. Some people have been found to have an infection but no symptoms.
To date, however, there is no evidence that monkeypox spreads from people with no symptoms, according to the CDC.
Safer sex is one effort of prevention and maintenance for the spread of monkeypox that the CDC note and is one reason that the state has distributed funding to Fort Bend County.
“Monkeypox is not an STI, [but] it can be spread through direct contact that includes sex,” Williams said. “Additional funding is due to increased work for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of monkeypox in high-risk populations in Fort Bend County.”
Other efforts the county has made to deter the spread of and increase awareness for monkeypox includes its monkeypox dashboard, risk communications and FAQs on the department’s website, screening and testing through clinical health services, vaccination qualification screening and contact tracing through the epidemiology department, and social media risk communication and education to the community, Williams said.
