Two-thirds of Victorian monkeypox cases locally acquired

While monkeypox is showing signs of waning in America after being declared a national public health emergency, local transmission is just beginning to plague Australia.

A collage of monkeypox rash lesions. Picture: Handout/UK Health Security Agency/AFP

While monkeypox is showing signs of waning in America after being declared a national public health emergency by US President Joe Biden earlier this month, local transmission is just beginning to plague Australia.

Victoria - which has the highest number of cases in the country - has recorded a 20-case jump in the past week, with 59 confirmed cases of monkeypox recorded on Saturday.

A state Department of Health spokeswoman revealed to The Australian that two-thirds of the cases had been locally acquired.

The first of the third-­generation Jynneos vaccine arrived in Victoria earlier this month and is available at Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Thorne Harbour Health, Northside Clinic, Collins Street Medical Centre and Prahran Market Clinic, but supply is limited.

Local transmission is also beginning to rise up in NSW - which has 44 confirmed cases as of Friday - with one case acquired in the state and another two within Australia.

Western Australia has confirmed all of its five cases were acquired overseas, with three cases in Queensland and two in the ACT and South Australia.

While US public health authorities are yet to declare whether the peak has passed, vaccination has helped control the spread of the viral disease, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that monkeypox DNA detected in wastewater in San Francisco had stabilised.

Monkeypox has disproportionately impacted men who have sex with men and spreads through skin-to-skin contact, contam­inated items and respiratory ­objects.

Health authorities have recommended those infected should isolate and abstain from sex as well as limit sexual partners if they are unvaccinated.

The Australian government reported 106 confirmed and probable cases as of last Thursday.

That number can be expected to rise as states update their ­numbers and as local transmission escalates.

The disease - which is endemic in a number of African countries - has seen more than 46,000 cases and has spread to almost 100 countries.

Australia has secured 450,000 doses of the Bavarian Nordic vaccine, with 22,000 doses already in the country and the rest arriving later this year and next year.

“The Albanese government has responded early to the ­monkeypox outbreak, securing supplies of the third-generation vaccine in a time of limited supply and significant global demand,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.