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Microscopic mpox, formerly known as monkeypox. | Image courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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Orange County Health Care Agency officials on announced Friday three more cases of mpox have surfaced in the county over the past week, bringing the year’s total to five.
“These numbers are low,” Andrew Noymer, a UC Irvine professor of population health and disease prevention, told City News Service. “Panic is not warranted and vaccination is warranted.”
Noymer said it is not necessary for everyone to get a shot.
“Any adult who wants one should get one, but I would focus on people who have known cases of mpox in their social networks,” Noymer said. “That would be a cue to get the vaccine, and the vaccine is safe and effective.”
The disease is not a sexually transmitted disease but can be spread by skin-to-skin contact through intimate relations or by just shaking hands with someone who has it, Noymer said.
“Mpox is in a state of hyper-low endemicity,” Noymer said. “It’s just gurgling beneath the surface. Therefore, it’s not cause of concern. You have cases we know that are still out there, and I’m not alarmed. And five cases in the year to date in a county of over three million people is not alarming.”
Health Care Agency officials administered more than 80 mpox vaccinations to attendees at last month’s OC Pride Event, officials said. Since last year, about 7,500 people in Orange County have received one of the two doses of vaccines, but 30% have not gotten the second shot, which is supposed to be taken 28 days later.
