FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The mpox emergency in South Florida is contained, but experts say it is not entirely over.
So far, 1,700 people in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have had the virus this year as an outbreak swept the country. Experts say reformed behaviors, effective vaccines and quick interventions helped contain contain the spread of the infectious disease formerly known as monkeypox.
This summer, cases in South Florida rose after Gay Pride Month events reaching a peak in August with 384 cases in Broward, 404 in Miami-Dade and 60 in Palm Beach in that month alone. Most of the U.S. cases are men who have sex with men, and symptoms often include lesions or pox that can become painful and itchy.
The virus — renamed mpox by the World Health Organization to get rid of the stigma that falsely suggests monkeys are the main source of spreading the virus to humans — requires close contact to spread, making it easier to contain than the more deadly and more easily transmissible COVID.
For the month of November, cases dropped significantly. The three South Florida counties reported a total of only 28 cases of mpox and so far, only five cases are reported for December. The Biden administration declared an end to the public health emergency for the disease effective Jan. 31, 2023.
Dr. Zachary Henry, medical director of the AHF Healthcare Center in Fort Lauderdale, diagnosed and treated some of the first cases in the state and says he has seen only a trickle of new cases in the last month.
“Once you get monkeypox, you don’t get it again,” Henry said. “I think enough people in Broward County caught it quickly and enough people got vaccinated fast enough so the virus eventually just floundered.”
Mpox may never leave the United States entirely, experts say, but low caseloads suggest vaccines and treatments are effective.
Broward County, which became the epicenter in Florida early on during the outbreak, was among the first areas in the U.S. to get the Jynneos vaccine used to prevent mpox.
National infectious disease experts believe the gay community became so terrified of the scars and visual look of mpox on social media posts that many rushed out to get vaccinated.
The Florida Department of Health, Broward says it has directly provided 35,376 Jynneos vaccine doses to the community and distributed 8,355 to local health care provider partners.
“Over time, demand for the smallpox/monkeypox JYNNEOS vaccine has decreased but we continue to provide opportunities for vaccination at three DOH-Broward sites,” said Nina Levine, spokeswoman for DOH, Broward.
Henry said the medication given to people with mpox, an antiviral called tecovirimat, or TPOXX, has helped many of his patients recover who had confirmed cases and symptoms.
“Even if they came in and were very sick or had serious complications and lesions in really bad or obscure locations, they all seemed to clear up within a week of starting TPOXX,” he said. “In people with mild disease it lasted longer than those who got sick and got TPOXX.”
The proactive approach to educate, test and treat taken by Broward County health providers and LGBTQ community groups made a difference, says Robert Boo, CEO of The Pride Center at Equality Park in Wilton Manors.
“We were out in front of this from the beginning, trying to educate people as quickly as possible,” Boo said. “I don’t know for sure that we did a fabulous job or if (mpox) is in a lull nationwide, but it can easily rear its ugly head back again.”
He believes some people have modified their sexual behavior in response to the outbreak.
Boo said his organization received a federal grant Dec. 1 for a marketing campaign to destigmatize mpox. “We know the impact of the virus is going to be long-standing because the sores and markings were very visible,” Boo said. “I know there will be long-term mental and physical repercussions and we want to neutralize them.”
Boo said he is concerned that many in Broward who received their first dose of Jynneos did not get their second in the two-dose series, particularly after hearing about reactions.
“The disease may be under control now, but if and when it does resurface, we want to ensure it doesn’t have this weight to it that shames people and makes them feel guilty.”
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