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An adult Harris County resident who was diagnosed with monkeypox has died, marking the first publicly reported death associated with the virus in the U.S., health officials said Tuesday.
The person was “severely immunocompromised,” Texas Health and Human Services officials said. State health officials cautioned that while the person had the disease, it was still being investigated how factored into the death.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CBS News that the Texas death is the first linked to the virus that the agency is aware of in the country.
The report comes as alarm about the disease continues to rise, with 18,101 cases reported in the country so far, according to the CDC. Texas, with 1,604 cases, is the state with the fourth highest total of infections.
This is a developing story; check back for details.
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