Maine Reports First Case Of Pediatric Monkeypox

AUGUSTA, ME — The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has identified the state's first case of monkeypox in a child, the agency announced Friday. To date, officials have identified a total of three monkeypox cases in the state.

Nationally, California and Florida have also confirmed cases of monkeypox in children under 18, according to state health officials.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention released no additional about the child, citing patient privacy.

According to state health officials, Maine received doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine from the federal government and will make the vaccine available to close contacts of identified cases as well as those at risk of transmitting monkeypox or becoming severely ill. Individuals under 18 may also receive the vaccine.

A current list of vaccine locations and criteria for vaccination is available on the Maine CDC's website.

To date, nearly 10,800 monkeypox cases have been reported in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wyoming is the only state that's not identified a case. So far, the highest number of cases have been reported in New York, California, and Florida.

More than 31,000 cases of monkeypox have been identified globally since May, with the majority of those beyond Africa. Monkeypox has been endemic in parts of central and west Africa for decades and was not known to trigger large outbreaks beyond the continent until May.

The World Health Organization declared the global spread of monkeypox to be an international emergency in July and the United States declared its own epidemic to be a national emergency earlier this month.

Outside of Africa, 98 percent of cases are in men who have sex with men. With only a limited global supply of vaccines, authorities are racing to stop monkeypox before it becomes entrenched as a new disease.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.