Public health officials hoping to cut off transmission of monkeypox in the United States say the virus is likely spreading within communities across the country and could become difficult to contain.
Only nine cases have been identified so far in seven states: Massachusetts, Florida, Utah, Washington, California, Virginia and New York. But some of those cases are among individuals with no known contacts to travelers from West or Central Africa, where monkeypox has circulated for decades.
“Given that not all of these had active travel histories to endemic areas, I think we need to presume that there is some community spread,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters in a briefing on Thursday. “There is active contact tracing that is happening right now to understand whether and how these cases may have been in contact with each other, or with others in other countries.”
