The Washington DC Department of Health and Whitman-Walker Health Department are closely monitoring the outbreak of a new, more virulent strain of Mpox in several African countries, which prompted the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a global health emergency on August 15.
LGBTQ health advocates in Los Angeles are working with city public health officials to ensure the LGBTQ community, particularly gay and bisexual men, have access to the existing Mpox vaccine, which has been shown to be effective in preventing and reducing the severity of Mpox infection.
In the 2022 Mpox epidemic in the United States, homosexual men accounted for the largest number of Mpox cases, with more than 90% of cases occurring in gay, bisexual, or straight men.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which closely monitored and implemented containment measures for the 2022 Mpox outbreak in the U.S., said no cases of the more virulent African strain (known as the clade 1 lineage) have been recorded in the U.S. so far.
But CDC officials say they are taking steps, along with officials from the D.C. Department of Health (known as DC Health) and Whitman Walker Health, to ensure they are prepared if new variants emerge in the U.S. or the D.C. region.
International health officials have expressed concern after at least one person in Sweden was diagnosed with a new, more virulent strain, marking the first case outside the African continent. Information emerging from Africa in August suggested that at least 500 people had died from Mpox in the current outbreak.
“DC Health is monitoring the situation very closely and is taking the necessary steps to ensure our preparations,” according to a statement released by DC Health to the Washington Blade.
“We have treated over 300 Mpox patients, most of whom have occurred in 2022,” said a statement released by Whitman Walker Health on Sept. 9. “We continue to see sporadic cases, with 11 cases last year,” the statement said. The most recent Mpox case the hospital treated occurred in July of this year.
All of the Mpox patients Whitman Walker has seen have been infected with a less virulent strain of Mpox that emerged in the U.S. and around the world in 2022, so-called clade 2 Mpox, said Dr. Kyle Benda, manager of Whitman Walker’s sexual medicine and acute rapid care clinic.
“We have not seen any cases that appear to be due to the lineage 1 outbreaks occurring in Africa recently,” Benda told the Blade. “Using Tecovirimat, which we obtained through the CDC’s Expanded Access Program, we have been able to treat patients with Mpox.”
He was referring to a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2022 as an effective treatment for Mpox.
Similar to data across the U.S., statistics released by DC Health on the demographic breakdown of the Mpox outbreak in DC in 2022-2023 show that men, particularly African-American men, and gay and bisexual men, make up the largest number of Mpox cases.
According to DC data, 96.3% of cases in DC are male and 1.8% are female. Additionally, gay men account for 54.8% of cases, bisexuals account for 6.7% of cases, and people with unknown sexual orientation account for 31.4% of cases.
The CDC and other health experts say Mpox can be spread through skin-to-skin contact, including contact with people who may have open wounds, bodily fluids, and even through sharing bedding and clothing. Experts say sexual contact is one of the main ways the virus is spread.
According to health officials, the most common symptoms include pimples and blisters on the face, body and genitals. Other symptoms include fever, chills, headache, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes.
Benda said sexual transmission of Mpox, especially among gay and bisexual men, often occurs when the typical sores or blisters on the skin develop internally, such as in the anal canal, and the infection cannot be detected immediately in its early stages.
Like other health officials, LGBTQ health advocates say the most important step for people at risk from Mpox, particularly gay and bisexual men, is to get vaccinated, which requires one shot followed by a second 28 days later.
Benda said Whitman-Walker Hospital has vaccine doses available to administer to anyone deemed at risk for Mpox, including those who are not currently registered as patients at Whitman-Walker Hospital. A statement released by DC Health said vaccinations are widely available at most pharmacies, health centers and clinics across the city.
People who are uninsured or unable to afford the cost of the vaccine can get vaccinated at the DC Health and Wellness Center at 77 P St. in Nebraska.
“We encourage all patients who may be at higher risk from Mpox to get vaccinated, especially those who have only received one of the two doses or none at all,” Whitman Walker’s Benda told the Blade.
Medical experts, including DC Health officials, say widespread access to the Mpox vaccine has led to a dramatic drop in case numbers in the U.S. and DC area in late 2023 and into 2024.
When asked whether people who have been fully vaccinated within the past two years would need a booster dose, DC Health said in a statement that “at this time, more than one dose is not recommended for most individuals.”
“People at occupational risk, such as laboratory workers who work directly with cultures or animals contaminated with Mpox virus, are recommended to receive a booster vaccination every 2-10 years depending on the nature of their work,” the statement added.
Of the total vaccine recipients administered in DC as of the beginning of the year, 83.4% of recipients were men and 74.5% of recipients were gay men, according to data released by the DC Health Department. 12.2% were bisexual and 0.9% were lesbians, according to the data. Of DC residents who received the Mpox vaccine, 6.5% were women.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
