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Health experts are urging caution amid a resurgence in Chicago monkeypox cases.
The Chicago Department of Public Health reported five cases this year through mid-April. However, 20 cases have been detected since, department data shows.
The disease, now referred to as Mpox by health experts, spread quickly throughout the country last summer, predominantly among gay and bisexual men. It arrived in Chicago in early June and was infecting over 100 Chicagoans each week by mid-July, but cases quickly peaked amid a broad effort to prevent spread through vaccination and precaution.
The disease’s resurgence comes as summer begins and with major gatherings catering to the most-affected groups quickly approaching. Chicago public health director Dr. Allison Arwady and other health experts are urging at-risk people to help stop the spread of the virus that causes painful rashes and flu-like symptoms.
“It’s important that people protect themselves. It’s serious. It’s preventable. You can easily get your vaccine for Mpox,” Arwady said last week.
Howard Brown Health saw just one case over a 14-week period earlier this year, spokesperson Wren O’Kelley told the Tribune on Tuesday. But the LGBTQ-focused Chicago health center has since treated 11 new cases over the last month, she added.
“We’ve gone from basically nothing to a pretty notable rise,” O’Kelley said.
The disease is often transmitted sexually, but can be spread through any kind of prolonged skin-to-skin contact, O’Kelley said. It often starts with flu-like symptoms before progressing to rashes one to three days later. Those rashes, a distinct feature of the disease akin to pimples or blisters, frequently first appear around the genital area and rear end, but can also show up around the mouth, hands and back, she said.
The disease has primarily spread to gay and bisexual men in Chicago, though other people have also contracted the disease, CDPH data shows.
O’Kelley said Howard Brown is trying to “make noise” about the small number of cases to prevent a larger uptick. Last summer, cases skyrocketed, infecting over 800 Chicagoans less than three months after the city’s first case was detected. The current resurgence was somewhat expected, as communicable diseases tend to rise throughout the summer, O’Kelley said.
“We think for a lot of people, it’s kind of fallen off their radar,” she said. “My hope is that this doesn’t become a big deal this summer.”
She urged people to know the vaccination and health status of their sexual partners and other people with whom they have close contact. Other precautions include washing hands and wearing masks amid flu-like symptoms, she said.
Howard Brown is focusing its prevention efforts around upcoming LGBTQ-focused events, including Pride Month in June and the International Mr. Leather conference that will bring thousands of gay men from around the world to Chicago in late May, O’Kelley said.
The organizers of the International Mr. Leather conference, starting May 25, said on their website they were working in conjunction with the White House and Chicago’s Department of Public Health to encourage guests to be vaccinated for Mpox. Conference organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
While the vaccine used to protect against the disease was in short supply last summer, access has since been broadened as supply chains were established and demand lessened, O’Kelley said.
“The scarcity problem that existed has kind of dried up,” she said. “If you want it and you’re eligible, we can get it to you.”
Many of the Mpox patients Howard Brown has recently treated were previously vaccinated, O’Kelley said. Vaccination has led to less severe cases with “far, far milder” symptoms, she said. Howard Brown is accepting vaccination appointments and doing walk-up vaccinations at its clinics across the city, she added.
Arwady echoed the importance of vaccination, adding that at-risk Chicagoans can get the two-shot vaccination course for free at CDPH sexually transmitted infection clinics. The public health department recommends the vaccine, JYNNEOS, for sexually active bisexual men, gay men and transgender people, as well as anyone who has had close contact with someone diagnosed with Mpox.
While many cases of Mpox are not severe, the disease has killed three people in Chicago and led to 77 hospitalizations, according to the officials. Some cases can be prolonged and severely painful, said Dr. Beverly Sha, a Rush University System for Health infectious disease physician.
Sha recalled one patient whose case lasted six months, during which he was in and out of hospital care and “honestly miserable.”
“If we can spur people to get vaccinated if they already haven’t and to take other precautions, we might minimize the number of future cases,” Sha said Tuesday.
The current resurgence of Mpox likely won’t be the disease’s last, she added. She urged at-risk people to practice safer sex by limiting the number of sexual partners, especially unknown sexual partners, and by using condoms during sex.
The hospital system is using the antiviral drug tecovirimat as ongoing trials continue to determine the drug’s effectiveness in treating the disease, Sha said. She encouraged people who test positive to reach out to the hospital to participate in the trials.
Several of the people who recently tested positive for Mpox in Chicago had traveled to other cities and countries shortly before, Sha said, citing information shared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on cases through early May.
It’s hard to tell how many diagnoses the city might be missing, she said. And it’s hard to predict if cases might further surge as summer begins.
“We don’t know which way this is going to go,” Sha said.
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