CNN
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Mpox cases in the United States are twice as high as they were at this time last year, and experts are stressing the importance of improving vaccination coverage as transmission risks rise.
There have been 511 cases reported this year through March 16, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — compared with fewer than 300 cases by late March 2023.
Transmission rates are still far below levels from 2022, when there were tens of thousands of cases in the US. But after a quieter year last year, experts say the US is vulnerable to increases in spread in a number of ways. The public health emergency in the US expired more than a year ago, cutting the amount of federal resources available to manage the public health response. And relatively low vaccination rates leave many at risk.
In December, the CDC also sent a health alert warning health-care providers about another subtype of the virus that has been found to be more transmissible and cause more severe disease than the subtype associated with the 2022 outbreak in the US. This particular genetic clade has not been identified in the US, but it is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“This has the potential to become a fairly prevalent infectious disease, but the advantage with mpox is, we have a vaccine that’s effective. We don’t have that for syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia or HIV,” said Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “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, formerly known as monkeypox, is a less severe cousin of the now-eradicated smallpox virus, and it is spread through close personal contact. Initial symptoms are typically flu-like — including fever, chills, exhaustion, headache and muscle weakness — often followed by a rash with raised lesions that scab over and resolve over a period of weeks.
Although anyone can get mpox, men who have sex with men are particularly at risk, and those who have HIV are more vulnerable to severe outcomes, including death. The vaccine, manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic under the brand name Jynneos, has a recommended two-dose regimen, with the shots given about a month apart.
In most states, less than a quarter of the population at risk has been fully vaccinated with the two-dose series since it was authorized for emergency use in August 2022, CDC data shows. As of January, coverage is highest in the District of Columbia, where 68% of the at-risk population has gotten both shots, but coverage is less than half in every other jurisdiction. Coverage is below 10% in eight states.
Nearly all US regions have reported more cases this year than in the first three months of 2023, with the largest difference in the mid-Atlantic region, particularly New York City, CDC data shows.
On Monday, the Virginia health department sent out a notice to raise awareness about a recent rise in cases.
The state has had as many cases this year as there were in all of 2023. Cases have also been reported from regions across the state, but last year’s cases were concentrated in the north part of the state. Among the 12 cases, four required…
Read More: Mpox cases in the US are on the rise as vaccination rates lag and new threats