Health officials confirm 18 new monkeypox cases in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) confirmed that there have been 18 new cases of monkeypox, all within adult men, diagnosed within the past week.

This brings the total number of monkeypox cases in the state to 49.

The DPH said it is working with local health officials, the patients, and healthcare providers to identify people who may have been in contact with the patients while they were infectious.

The DPH also announced Thursday that it received its initial shipment of over 2,000 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine, which prevents smallpox and monkeypox, on July 5.

The department said it distributed the vaccine to four healthcare providers that were seeing the highest volume of patients reporting exposure or likely exposure to monkeypox.

Stock of the vaccine in Massachusetts is currently limited due to low national stores of the vaccine, the DPH said. The vaccine is currently available to people who meet the CDC’s eligibility criteria and who live or work in Massachusetts.

The vaccine is being prioritized for people at the greatest risk of exposure to someone with monkeypox. If you believe you qualify for a monkeypox vaccine, you should contact your healthcare provider, the DPH said.

The list of healthcare providers with the vaccine will be updated on a regular basis on the state’s monkeypox vaccine website, the DPH said. The DPH is also adding a mobile vaccine clinic.

CDC data shows that there have been 1,053 cases of monkeypox this year in the U.S. as of July 13. Nearly 40% of those cases are in New York, another 17% are in California, and another 15% are in Illinois.

No deaths have been reported in connection with the current outbreak in the U.S. or globally, according to the DPH.

Gay and bisexual men continue to make up a large proportion of the cases identified to date, the DPH said. However, the risk is not limited to men who have sex with men, and anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has monkeypox is at risk.

While the virus does not spread easily, people can spread it once they develop symptoms.

Transmission occurs through direct contact with body fluids, contact with monkeypox sores, contact with items that have been contaminated with fluids or sores, such as clothing and bedding, or less commonly, through respiratory droplets following prolonged face-to-face contact, according to the DPH.

In many of the recent cases, the locations of the rash lesions suggest that the virus was transmitted during sexual contact, the DPH said.

Monkeypox can spread through:

• Direct skin-to-skin contact with rash lesions, including sexual and intimate contact and kissing.
• Living in a house and sharing a bed, towels, or unwashed clothing with someone who is infected.
• Respiratory secretions through face-to-face interactions — the type that mainly happen when living with or caring for someone who has monkeypox.

Monkeypox does not spread through:

• Casual conversations.
• Walking by someone with monkeypox in a grocery store.
• Touching items such as doorknobs.

Early symptoms of monkeypox can include fever, headache, sore throat, and swollen lymph nodes, but a rash may be the first symptom. Rash lesions start flat, become raised, fill with clear fluid, and then become pustules. A person with monkeypox can have many lesions or only a few.

If you think you may have monkeypox, contact your healthcare provider, limit contact with others, and wear a mask when you have contact with others.

If you want to reduce your risk of contracting monkeypox:

• Avoid large gatherings like raves and dance parties where you may have lots of close body contact with others
• Ask any sexual partner, especially new partners whose health status and recent travel history you are not familiar with, if they have any symptoms of monkeypox
• Stay informed by reading information available on the DPH and CDC websites

For more information about monkeypox, visit www.mass.gov/monkeypox and www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox.

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