Dallas has seen a tiny spike of cases of monkeypox, a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus.

According to a release, Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) is now reporting 14 monkeypox cases in Dallas County since the start of the outbreak.

The virus spreads between people through direct contact with infectious sores, scabs, or body fluids. It also can be spread by respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact.

Monkeypox can spread during intimate contact, including sex, kissing, cuddling, or touching parts of the body with monkeypox sores.

The threat of monkeypox to the general Dallas County population remains low. Monkeypox is rare and does not spread easily between people without close, personal, skin-to-skin contact.

Men who have sex with men and who engage in high-risk sexual activities make up a larger proportion of cases identified to date. However, the risk is not limited to the LGBTQ community. Anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has monkeypox is at risk.

A timeline of the monkeypox virus in Dallas so far:

May 18: The first United States case is confirmed.

June 6: The first monkeypox case in Dallas County is discovered in a resident who traveled internationally to a country that had monkeypox cases.

June 22: A second and third monkeypox case are discovered in Dallas County residents who traveled to Spain and Mexico. The patients were not hospitalized and were recovering at home. The Center for Disease Control worked with airlines and health officials to contact passengers and others who may have been in contact with the patient on board flights (including transfers) from Spain to Dallas, and Mexico to Dallas.

June 28: The Biden-Harris Administration launches a national strategy to provide vaccines for monkeypox for individuals at higher risk of exposure, significantly expanding deployment of vaccines, allocating nearly 300,000 doses over the coming weeks.

July 6: A monkeypox case is discovered in an out-of-state visitor who was in town for the Daddyland Festival over the July 4th weekend. The visitor went on to have multiple sexual encounters at Club Dallas, a bathhouse on Swiss Avenue, between June 22-25.

July 12: An additional 14 monkeypox cases are discovered in Dallas County residents, including "local transmission connected to previous exposure," meaning it was probably someone at Daddyland or Club Dallas.

For more information, visit: www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/index.html.