44 monkeypox cases reported in San Bernardino County; numbers low compared to rest of SoCal

San Bernardino County has logged 44 monkeypox cases, state public health authorities reported Friday, a relatively low number given the county's large population.

San Bernardino County has about 2.1 million people and is the fifth most populous in the state behind Los Angeles (10 million), Orange (3.3 million), San Diego (3.1 million) and Riverside (2.4 million).

Los Angeles has logged 1,263 cases to date, state health officials said Friday. San Francisco has had 696; San Diego County, 241; Riverside County, 172; Alameda County,169; and Orange County, 127.

Monkeypox is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus. People usually become infected through close contact with skin lesions or bodily fluids of infected animals or humans (alive or dead), including droplets, or clothing and linens from an infected person. The virus can also be spread through sexual contact, but it is not classified as a sexually transmitted infection.

The virus can infect anyone, but during the current U.S. outbreak, it has disproportionately affected men who have sex with men, a group that includes people who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary.

Symptoms can occur five to 21 days after exposure, and include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, rash and lesions often in the genital and perianal region. Illness typically lasts for two to four weeks.

County residents interested in receiving a monkeypox vaccine may fill out a form at the public health website at bit.ly/3APB4DT and more information is available at wp.sbcounty.gov/dph/monkeypox.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: 44 monkeypox cases reported in San Bernardino County;