San Diego County health leaders said the demand for monkeypox testing is growing, as the number of San Diegans infected with monkeypox increases. As of Aug. 8 there are 98 confirmed or probable cases and 71 suspected and confirmed monkeypox cases in San Diego County.
"I just felt really weak, really tired, exhausted, chills and I personally thought I had COVID for a whole week," said San Diego resident Manuel Soltero. "I took three tests, one on Monday, one on Wednesday, one on Friday and all three came back negative."
Soltero shared with NBC 7 photos of lesions he saw growing on his arm that then spread to his face, which led him to get tested for monkeypox.
While health leaders stress that the monkeypox has available treatment and is not considered a deadly virus, those who are getting infected are worried. This agony came as county leaders said their supply of monkeypox vaccines is constricted.
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"It's been very tough, I will tell you because the supply is very limited from the federal government," said Dr. William Tseng. "So San Diego gets a limited amount and then they distribute as much as they can to all the health systems so that we can provide prevention for our patients."
Dr. William Tseng, Kaiser Permanente's assistant area medical director for San Diego, stated that the demand for testing is growing. At Kaiser Permanente's lab, their testing has increased from last week's count by about 40- 50%.
While the virus is not known to be deadly or cause much hospitalization, there’s still much concern for those who are dealing with the symptoms.
The CDC has said that monkeypox can spread to anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, including: direct contact with monkeypox rash, scabs, or body fluids, touching objects, fabrics and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox or contact with respiratory secretions.
"Our local strategy is really testing, tracing and treatment, so that's what our goal is from a county public standpoint and really the county is working really hard," said Dr. Tseng.
The county has said that in order to seek treatment you must first test positive for the virus. In order to access a test, the county recommends calling a doctor or 2-1-1 that way providers can swab the lesion and send a sample over to a lab for results.
