Austin Public Health is encouraging local residents who have risk factors for mpox to get vaccinated as world health leaders eye a developing international outbreak of the virus.
The World Health Organization declared an mpox outbreak across a growing number of African countries to be a public health emergency of international concern in August. The outbreak involves a new strain of mpox known as clade Ib. It originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has spread to neighboring countries. Additionally, cases were reported in Sweden and Thailand in individuals who had traveled to Africa.
The WHO is raising the alarm about this outbreak in an effort to prevent international spread of the kind seen in 2022, when a widespread outbreak of clade II mpox reached the United States.
Spread related to the 2022 outbreak eventually slowed, and the WHO lifted a public health emergency related to the outbreak in spring 2023. However, Austin continues to see occasional clade II cases. Since Austin Public Health reported the first local mpox case in June of 2022, a cumulative 323 cases have been recorded locally. Thirty-two of those cases occurred in 2024.
“We get a couple of cases here and there,” Heather Cooks-Sinclair, APH’s epidemiology and disease surveillance unit manager, told KUT. “We've seen more cases in the summer, but we're talking like maybe one or two a week — not to outbreak levels.”
Cooks-Sinclair said the likelihood of the latest international mpox outbreak reaching Austin is low but not impossible.
“I'll say that if anyone has traveled to Central or Eastern Africa, and they return and have symptoms that are consistent with mpox, they should seek care immediately and have their doctor be in touch with the health department, just in case,” she said.
Mpox often presents as a rash that can look like pimples or blisters and can include flu-like symptoms. It is primarily spread through close physical contact.
A handful of local providers — including APH, Kind Clinic and CommUnityCare — offer the Jynneos mpox vaccine. People who fall into high-risk groups for mpox can access the two-dose vaccine, which protects against all circulating strains of mpox. Folks who have previously received both doses of the vaccine do not need to receive a booster at this time.
A primary risk factor for contracting mpox is having multiple sexual partners, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that gay and bisexual men are most likely to contract the virus.
