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This week, I wrote about the worsening outbreak of a new, more deadly strain of the mpox virus that is spreading globally. The vast majority of these infections are in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighboring countries. The new strain has not yet been detected in the United States.

But that does not mean Americans are free from mpox (formerly known as monkeypox). In fact, the version of the virus that caused an outbreak two years ago, known as clade 2, is still spreading here. There is a safe and effective vaccine, and it’s not too late for people at risk of being exposed to the disease to get the shot.

In 2022, mpox spread rapidly in more than 100 countries that previously had not seen mpox. In the United States, more than 30,000 people were diagnosed in the first year of the outbreak.

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