US Monkeypox Cases Double as Spread Continues via Close Contact: CDC

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, answers questions during a Senate committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 11, 2022. Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. monkeypox cases have more than doubled from a week ago, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as the head of the agency confirmed that the virus is not spreading via airborne transmission.

There are now at least 45 confirmed cases in 15 states and the District of Columbia, the agency’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said in a press conference on Friday. About 1,300 cases of the virus have been found around the world outside of some African countries, where it is endemic, she added.

Most of the U.S. cases confirmed recent international travel or had close contact with a monkeypox-infected person, said CDC official Jennifer McQuiston. The cases have appeared across the country and there is no single metropolitan area that has seen a high degree of community transmission, she said.

Also on Friday, Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response for the Department of Health and Human Services, said that the United States ordered about 500,000 frozen, liquid doses of the Jynneos smallpox vaccine, which can be used for monkeypox.

The federal government currently has about 72,000 Jynneos doses, and it will get 300,000 more doses from the manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, over the next several weeks, O'Connell said. The 500,000 doses will be delivered later this year, she said.

“We have the vaccines and treatments we need to respond” regarding the rise in cases, said O’Connell.

In May, cases of the rare virus started appearing in mainly European countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, and several other developed nations. Monkeypox is generally only reported in Central and West Africa, officials said.

Authorities with the CDC and World Health Organization (WHO) have signaled that homosexual males may be the primary transmitters of the virus. The WHO said last month that two rave-like parties in Spain and Belgium appear to have been early mass spreading events for monkeypox.

As a result, the agencies and some organizations have issued specific, monkeypox-related warnings to homosexual males for the month of June.

Signs and symptoms of monkeypox generally include fever, swollen glands, aches, and a rash that develops into lesions, known as “pox.” The virus can be sometimes fatal.

“But during the current outbreak, some patients have developed a localized rash often around the genital or anus before they experience any flu-like symptoms at all, and some have not even developed such flu-like symptoms,” Walensky stated during the news conference, adding that the rash and lesions “may look like chickenpox, or a sexually transmitted infection such as herpes, syphilis, or lymphogranuloma of an area.”