Monkeypox cases in Chicago jump to 42 but it remains rare and is much less transmissible than COVID-19

Chicago has 42 diagnosed monkeypox cases, the city’s top doctor said Monday.

That’s an increase from the 27 cases that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was reporting for all of Illinois.

Dr. Allison Arwady, shared the update with the City Council’s health committee.

“At this point, it is rare, and we’ve not had any deaths associated with it, and it does not spread easily,” Arwady said.

Monkeypox is a viral illness that typically begins with flu-like symptoms and swelling of the lymph nodes before progressing to a rash on the face and body. The illness typically lasts two to four weeks. According to the CDC, monkeypox cannot be spread by people who don’t have symptoms.

The illness doesn’t spread through casual contact like COVID-19 can, Arwady said.

“This is close contact. Skin to skin. Touching somebody’s rashes or sores. Potentially sharing bedding or towels. Kissing, coughing, sneezing,” she said.

The CDC was reporting 244 cases in the United States as of Monday, though apparently not all of the new Chicago cases had been added. The outbreak is most severe in parts of western Europe, though cases have been reported across the globe.

Most of Chicago’s monkeypox cases have been in men who have sex with men, a pattern also seen in the European outbreak, Arwady said.

“A lot of this is just because spread will occur through tight-knit social networks,” she said.

People who see a new and unexplained rash should see their doctor and avoid intimacy, Arwady said.

Monkeypox’s spread among men who have sex with men isn’t typical of the illness and is just a characteristic of this year’s outbreak, said Dr. Sharon Welbel, Cook County Health’s director of hospital epidemiology and infection control and prevention. Awareness of where the illness is spreading allows for more focused intervention, she said.

The jump in cases shows that doctors and the public are getting better at identifying and properly treating monkeypox, she said.

“It is a big increase since the last number that we heard last week, but I’m not surprised,” Welbel said. While the virus is not common in the U.S., it was first identified in 1958, and is more common in West and Central Africa, she added. Vaccines and antivirals used to treat similar viruses, such as smallpox, can be used to treat monkeypox, she said.

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Monkeypox is also much less transmissible than COVID-19 and easy to avoid because of its visibility, Welbel said. The monkeypox rash grows to look like a large pimple and often starts on the face, she previously told the Tribune. The rash can resemble herpes, chickenpox and syphilis, she said.

Epidemiologists have also confirmed that the monkeypox version spreading in Illinois is less aggressive and associated with very low mortality rates, Welbel said.

“Patients shouldn’t be afraid that they’re going to get this at the doctor’s office or at the hospital. We know how to isolate these patients,” she said.

More cases will be seen worldwide as it becomes easier to identify the illness, Welbel added.

“I really think people should not be fearful,” she said.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jakesheridan_