New Mpox Cluster in Fully Vaccinated People Has NYC Ties, CDC Warns

A global outbreak of the disease formerly called monkeypox started a year ago and eventually infected more than 30,000 people in the US, including 3,800 in NYC

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The global outbreak of the disease formerly known as monkeypox appeared to be dying down - but the CDC warned Monday of a concerning new cluster with ties to New York City.

Between April 17 and May 5, doctors reported 13 confirmed or probable cases of mpox to public health authorities in Chicago. All the cases were in men, all had symptoms -- and nine of the 13 were previously vaccinated with two doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine.

"Travel history was available for 9 cases; 4 recently traveled (New York City, New Orleans, and Mexico)," the CDC said in an update issued via its Health Alert Network. None of the 13 were sick enough to be hospitalized.

The global outbreak of the previously rare disease began in May 2022, and at its peak in August 2022, more than 460 cases were being diagnosed in the United States every day. But by late December the wave broke and the average number of new daily cases fell to the single digits.

Just last week, the World Health Organization said the mpox outbreak was no longer considered a health emergency. (Last November the WHO said it would start referring to the disease as mpox instead of monkeypox, in an effort to reduce the stigma around infections.)

For their part, New York City officials declared the outbreak over long ago. The city recorded just over 3,800 cases last year, about 94% men and about 64% members of the LGBTQ community.

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