Monkeypox cases in Chicago have doubled to 202 confirmed illnesses in the past 11 days. The city will get another 18,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine this week but officials acknowledged this will not be enough.
This electron microscope image shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, from a human skin sample associated with a 2003 prairie dog outbreak.
At one point, Arwady mistakenly referred to COVID-19 during the news conference at City Hall while discussing the monkeypox outbreak, an indication that Chicago’s public health system is being stretched by the threat posed by two viral outbreaks. COVID-19 continues to pose a “high” risk to Chicagoans, according to the Centers for Disease Control.Chicago will get an additional 15,400 doses of the monkeypox vaccine from the federal government as soon as soon as Saturday, Arwady said.
Those who have been exposed to someone diagnosed with monkeypox can and should be vaccinated immediately, as well as men who have sex with men who have intimate contact with other men in a social setting, multiple or anonymous partners or give or receive money or other goods or services in exchange for sex, Arwady said.
Those attending those events and others should “consider how much close, personal, skin-to-skin contact is likely to occur” and “avoid any rashes or sores you see on others and consider minimizing skin-to-skin contact when possible,” according to guidance from Chicago health officials.