New York City health officials have identified an additional two presumptive monkeypox cases after the patients definitively tested positive for orthopoxvirus, a virus category that includes monkeypox, less than a week after the city’s first case was discovered.
The Department of Heath and Mental Hygiene said that a total of four people have tested positive for orthopoxvirus, presumptive monkeypox.
City health officials said that they "will conduct contact tracing and monitoring and will refer people to care if necessary.”
The department added that monkeypox continues to be rare in New York City, saying that the spread of the virus is preventable.
Officials encouraged New Yorkers who feel sick to stay home and contact their health care provider if they notice any sores or lesions. On May 26, the health department said that
Monkeypox is rare and can spread through "close prolonged contact with an infected person or animal,” including through "skin lesions, body fluids, or sharing clothes or other materials that have been used by someone who is infectious, and also through respiratory droplets in prolonged face-to-face contact.”
