Monkeypox Linked to Sexual Transmission

As new cases of monkeypox emerge across the globe and health officials begin to trace the outbreak, the United States is responding to a request for the release of vaccine doses from the Strategic National Stockpile.

The vaccines, which belong to a stockpile that was prepared for the possibility of a smallpox outbreak, were requested for high-risk contacts of the early cases, including the first confirmed U.S. case in Massachusetts and six additional cases under investigation in New York, Florida and Utah.

According to a World Health Organization advisor, the unprecedented outbreak may be a “random event” linked to sexual activity at two raves in Europe, and has been disproportionately affecting gay and bisexual men.

While monkeypox is not classified as a sexually transmitted disease, it can be spread by intimate contact during sex when someone has an active rash, large respiratory droplets during prolonged contact, or direct contact with bodily fluids or contaminated clothes or bedsheets.

The World Health Organization confirmed 131 cases worldwide, with another 106 suspected cases, according to Ulysses Wu, MD, chief epidemiologist and system director for infectious diseases with Hartford HealthCare.

Read more about the symptoms and treatment for monkeypox on the Hartford HealthCare Health News Hub.