A new resource from Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) aims to help everyone better understand the monkeypox outbreak affecting Arizona and other states.
As of Aug. 6, Arizona had 118 reported cases of monkeypox, with most of those occurring in the Phoenix and Tucson areas. This rare viral infection, which had been rarely seen in people who hadn’t traveled to central and west Africa, has been reported since May across multiple countries that normally don’t report cases. It is rarely life-threatening but can cause painful rash and lesions.
Our new website at azhealth.gov/monkeypox is organized around four areas:
Know: Monkeypox is spread through very close, often intimate, contact. The site has an infographic explaining activities that put people at high risk for monkeypox. It also explains that monkeypox isn’t spread through brief conversations or walking past an infected person, so the risk from normal activities such as shopping, using a public restroom, or going to a restaurant is quite low.
Prevent: Vaccines are available to those at high risk or who have been exposed to monkeypox. Contact your local health department for more information. Residents of Maricopa County or Pima County interested in vaccination can fill out their vaccine interest forms.
Identify: Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, respiratory symptoms (e.g., sore throat, nasal congestion or cough), and rash (may be located on any part of the body including on or near the genitals). Testing is available in Arizona. Contact your health care provider to arrange testing.
Treat: Medication is available and may be recommended by your doctor.
It’s natural to be concerned about monkeypox. I hope visiting azhealth.gov/monkeypox will help everyone better understand this virus and their own risk, along with the resources available for those who are at risk or who have been exposed.
Carla Berg is the deputy director for Public Health Services at the Arizona Department of Health Services. A native Arizonan, Carla has been a part of the ADHS team since 2008. She began her public health work at ADHS as an epidemiologist within the Tuberculosis Control Program. Since then, she has held roles as chief strategy officer, bureau chief for special licensing and office chief for Disease Integration & Services. In her current role, she leads the divisions of Public Health Preparedness, Public Health Licensing and Public Health Prevention Services in addition to health equity and strategic initiatives. She also provides leadership to the Arizona Health Improvement Plan (AzHIP), a multi-sector partnership focused on priorities to improve the health of Arizonans. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Health Sciences from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
