The US is seeing an increase in mpox cases—nearly twice as many as there were at this time last year.
There were 298 instances between January 1 and March 23, 2023. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that as of this writing, 576 instances have been provisionally recorded. Of those, more than 110 were reported in New York City, 64 in California, and 50 in Florida.
The rise indicates that the disease is still circulating even if these numbers are much lower than those at its peak in 2022.
In the UK, more than 3,700 instances of mpox were reported between May 2022 and May 2023. There were just seven cases in total between 2018 and 2021.
The disease, previously known as Monkeypox, comes from the same family as smallpox.
Experts recommended high-risk groups continue taking extra precautions, including vaccination. According to the CDC, most reported cases are people who are either unvaccinated or under-vaccinated, meaning they have only had one dose.
There is currently no booster recommendation for those who are fully vaccinated.
The vaccine is recommended for those with known or suspected mpox exposure, who have had a sex partner in the past two weeks who was infected, and those who identify as gay, bisexual, or a man who has sex with other men who have had more than one sexual partner or been diagnosed with more than one sexually transmitted disease in the past six months.
People with immune-compromising conditions, such as HIV, are also eligible.
However, low uptake of the vaccine in some areas means many are being left exposed.
Dr Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, told CNN: ‘This has the potential to become a fairly prevalent infectious disease, but the advantage with mpox is that we have a vaccine which is effective. We don’t have that for syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia or HIV.
‘We’ve had fairly good participation in the vaccination push, but we’re not anywhere close to getting most of the at-risk population vaccinated. Until that happens, we’re going to see outbreaks and upticks in cases in various places.’
Mpox: the lowdown
Mpox can be passed on person to person through:
- Any close physical or intimate contact with a person with mpox
- Touching clothing, bedding or towels used by someone with mpox
- The coughs or sneezes of a person with mpox when they’re close to you
Symptoms include:
- a fever
- a headache
- muscle aches
- backache
- swollen glands
- shivering (chills)
- exhaustion
- joint pain
- A rash, which appears around one to five days after the first symptoms and spreads
In the US, less than a quarter of the population at risk has been fully vaccinated, with coverage being highest in the capital, the District of Columbia, where 68% of the at-risk population has received both jabs. Coverage is less than half in every other jurisdiction.
In eight states, coverage is below 10%.
Since May 2022, when the mpox outbreak appeared in the US, the country has recorded more than 30,000 cases.
