When mpox first spread widely in the U.S., it primarily affected men who have sex with men. Now, health officials are looking closely at cases that don't fit that pattern. They want to understand all the ways the virus might be moving through communities.
A new report from six U.S. jurisdictions examined mpox patients who did not report male-to-male sexual contact. The goal was to describe their possible exposures—how they might have caught the virus. The report itself does not share the specific findings about what those exposures were, so we don't yet know the details of how these infections happened.
This kind of work is crucial for public health. It helps identify if the virus is spreading in new settings or through different types of close contact. Because the results are not reported, we can't draw any conclusions yet. This is an early, observational look at a specific group of cases, not a complete picture of national spread.