South Gwinnett News

A positive case of monkeypox has been discovered at Dacula Elementary School in Gwinnett County, a report by FOX 5 Atlanta said this week.

Parents and community members were made aware of the situation in a letter recently sent to them by school officials, the report said.

“I want to reassure you, we are taking this situation very seriously and the risk of monkeypox transmission in a school setting is very minimal," a spokesperson for the Gwinnett County Public Schools system said in the letter.

While the identity of the infected individual has not been made public, school officials say the individual will remain off campus until cleared to return to school by medical officials, the report said. 

As of Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that Georgia has confirmed 1,299 cases of the virus in the state; making it the fifth-most infected state in the country, behind New York, California, Florida and Texas.

The most common symptoms for the disease include fever, body aches, chills and fatigue, while people hit with more serious illness may also develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body; the report said. In parts of Africa, where the disease is endemic, people have reported infections through bites from rodents or small animals.