There has been a recent uptick in mpox diagnoses in Chicago, some of them in people vaccinated against the virus.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday it was working with multiple health departments to investigate new mpox cases around the country,
It has been less than a month after the CDC hailed the weekly pace of new infections slowing to zero nationwide. The news comes one day after Chicago health officials warned they had tracked a resurgence of infections from mpox, formerly called monkeypox, many among fully vaccinated residents.
“Most weeks we didn’t see a single mpox case, maybe one or two in a higher week. But just these last couple of weeks we saw two, then five, now another six coming in,” Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of Chicago’s health department, said Tuesday.
Public health experts expressed measured concern that similar to other cases of infections that are transmitted through sexual contact, mpox cases could rise during the summer, especially as gay and bi men travel to Pride festivals and other major LGBTQ events.
“Without renewed vaccination and prevention efforts, we are at risk for a resurgence of mpox,” said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the deputy coordinator of the White House national mpox response. “Vaccine is a really important tool, even if it’s not perfect.”
Diagnosed cases have been “increasing slightly” in eight countries in the past three weeks, including France and several countries in east Asia, said Dr. Rosamund Lewis, the technical lead for mpox at the World Health Organization. About half of the recent French cases were in vaccinated people.
Seven of the eight newly diagnosed patients were gay or bisexual men, said Dr. Leanna Gordon, the medical director of preventive medicine at Howard Brown. One person was unvaccinated, one had received one dose of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine, and six were fully vaccinated.
All eight instances were minor, and none of them required pain management. The vaccination is still likely to lessen the severity of an illness, Gordon adds, even with a breakout infection.
