Monkeypox: How do you get it, can you get it from hotels?

HOUSTON – Almost all of the monkeypox cases in Texas are men, and they’re between 21 to 50 years old.

In total, there are 110 cases, 22 in the city of Houston.

While 5,000 vaccines are coming to this area, most are reserved for those with known exposure.

Symptoms include:

  • A rash that looks like pimples or blisters
  • Fever
  • Body aches
  • Headache

A Dallas man told KXAS that he didn’t know he was exposed, but was contacted by his local health department to be on the lookout for symptoms right before they started.

“I started running a 101 fever and that lasted three days. There was a constant headache. Lymph nodes were swollen like I was a frog,” he said.

Health officials warn it’s spread through, touching the rash, bodily fluids, respiratory secretions, and prolonged face-to-face or intimate contact, such as sharing bedsheets.

Could you get monkeypox from hotel or motel sheets?

In theory, yes, says Harris County Public Health Dr. Ericka Brown.

“That risk is really, really small,” Dr. Brown said. “Hotels and public industries have protocols in place where we shouldn’t be sharing outside of, perhaps, family members.”