Some Texas Teens Face Higher Monkeypox Risk as School Year Begins, Doctor Says
A pediatric infectious disease specialist says school is a low-risk setting, but teens in high-risk relationships should know they can seek monkeypox care without parental consent.
By Kendra Konchanuk ·
As high schools across Texas begin the new school year, some teenagers may be more likely to contract monkeypox than their classmates, according to a pediatric infectious disease specialist.
Dr. Tess Barton, an associate professor of pediatric infectious diseases at UT Health San Antonio, said school itself is a low-risk environment for the spread of the virus. Monkeypox is most commonly transmitted through skin-to-skin contact with its lesions, and at the moment the people at greatest risk are men who have intimate relationships with other men. But some high school students are sexually active, Barton said, and some are involved in high-risk relationships. If they are exposed, they may not want their parents to know.
"Young people who may be engaging in sexual contact may not be telling their families that they’re doing that," Barton said. "And if they are engaging in high risk contacts, they could contract monkeypox."
Barton is concerned that this reluctance could keep teens from getting the medical care they need. The doctor wants adolescents to understand that anyone with symptoms can be tested and treated without telling a parent. Under Texas law, Barton noted, a minor can seek treatment for a sexually transmitted infection without parental consent. "So if there is a high-risk adolescent who suspects they may have monkeypox," Barton said, "Please seek care."
Monkeypox is not classified as a sexually transmitted infection, Barton explained, but its lesions look similar to those caused by herpes or syphilis. Doctors consider those infections differential diagnoses for monkeypox, meaning they are conditions that can be mistaken for it. That overlap can create a path to treatment. "So if a person seeks care for potentially herpes or syphilis and is found to have monkeypox, then then that would be an avenue for getting (treatment)," Barton said.
Barton added that some student athletes may also face elevated risk, particularly those in sports with a great deal of skin-to-skin contact, such as wrestling and basketball. Shared athletic equipment and towels that have touched monkeypox skin lesions could also be a source of infection.
Even so, Barton emphasized that the monkeypox risk for teenagers as a whole remains low.
Source: Houston Public Media
