There have been 11 reported cases of mpox this year in Connecticut, a notable increase from the four instances seen throughout the state last year, officials said Monday.
“The reason to bring attention to this right now is we know that one in three people who the CDC estimates to be at risk for mpox in Connecticut has received both vaccines,” Connecticut Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani told the Hartford Courant.
No deaths have been reported in Connecticut due to mpox.
A vaccine for the virus was released in 2022 during a widespread mpox outbreak that infected more than 32,000 people across the U.S., killing 58 of them. While the vaccine is delivered in two doses, many people got just one, according to Juthani.
“Fortunately, we are in a far different place than we were in 2022 thanks to the availability of the mpox vaccine and greater awareness,” she said in a statement.
During the 2022 outbreak, 145 cases were reported in Connecticut. Meanwhile, more than 4,500 cases were registered in New York, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All of the cases this year in Connecticut were discovered in four counties: Hartford, New London, New Haven and Fairfield, according to the state health department. Those are the most populous counties in the state.
“We’re not going in the direction we’d like, which is to be able to see that we have no cases,” Juthani told the Courant.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is often characterized by a rash with skin lesions that usually develop one to two weeks after infection. The rash can last up to four weeks, with the disease usually spreading through close person-to-person or skin-to-skin contact.
Mpox infections are most common in gay and bisexual men, but the virus can infect anyone.
