New Study Explores Links Between Women’s Reproductive System and Mental Health Disorders

Updated on Jul 6, 2023 | Featured, Psychiatry, Your Health

Both psychiatric disorders and disorders of the reproductive system are common in women of reproductive age. Often, they co-occur. “There is a lot of overlap between these two disease classes—but very little research into why that is,” says Nina Zaks, MS, Clinical Research Scientist in the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

She wanted to learn more about that overlap. Together with Magdalena Janecka, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry, and Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and other colleagues, she spearheaded a systematic review and meta-analysis to probe the association between mental health and reproductive system disorders in women. Their paper was published in JAMA Network Open in April.

The analysis revealed some interesting patterns—and shone a light on how much more remains to be discovered.

Psychiatric and Reproductive System Disorders: Increased Odds

Nina Zaks, MS

The analysis included 50 qualitative and quantitative studies, each of which explored co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses and reproductive system disorders. The research team cast a wide net, considering a range of psychiatric diagnoses including depression, anxiety, psychosis, and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. On the reproductive system side, the team looked into diagnoses such as inflammatory diseases of the female pelvic organs, non-inflammatory disorders of the genital tract, and ovarian dysfunction.

The overlap between the disease classes, they found, is significant. In women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and chronic pelvic pain, for instance, the odds of affective disorders were approximately 1.7 to almost four times greater than in women without the disorders. But the team also showed that the overlap between many other psychiatric and reproductive disorders simply has not been studied yet, revealing a considerable gap in knowledge, with potentially serious implications for women’s health.

Overall, the literature shows that women with reproductive system disorders have two to three times the odds of having psychiatric disorders compared to women without those conditions. “We see comorbidity between psychiatric and reproductive disorders everywhere we look,” Dr. Janecka says. “Despite that, there is so much about that comorbidity that has not yet been studied. It’s an urgent research priority to address this.”

Looking for Links in Mental Health and the Reproductive System

What can account for the overlap? Unfortunately, most studies in this area don’t dig into the possible causes, according to the researchers.

Scientists have suggested a number of possible explanations for the association between reproductive system and mental health disorders. For example, stress and quality of life factors associated with mental illness could affect menstrual cycles and reproductive function. Psychiatric medications might interfere with reproductive function. It’s also possible that some underlying genetic causes contribute to both types of disorders.

Though much more research is needed, there are reasons to suspect biological causes for the connection, at least in some cases. “From a mechanism standpoint, it makes sense. Many psychiatric diagnoses present differently between females and males, possibly due to a hormonal component,” Dr. Janecka notes. “Better understanding this connection will provide us with some insight into these mechanisms, while also improving quality of life for patients.”

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: PCOS and Depression

Magdalena Janecka, PhD

Among the studies that Dr. Janecka’s team analyzed, the largest portion focused on PCOS. Those studies showed that women with PCOS have an increased rate of depression, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder.

PCOS is relatively common, affecting as many as 5 to 10 percent of women of reproductive age. The condition is associated with symptoms such as infertility, obesity, acne, and excessive hair growth. One explanation for the increased risk of psychiatric diagnoses in women with PCOS is that those symptoms interfere with quality of life or body satisfaction and self-esteem. However, some emerging evidence suggests that is only part of the story, the researchers found.

The studies suggest that obesity and infertility appear to exacerbate psychiatric symptoms in women with PCOS, but don’t fully explain them. Indeed, genetic factors may play a role in both conditions. In a twin study, for instance, researchers found that the risk of depression was higher not only in people with PCOS, but also in the twin who did not have the syndrome. That implies a possible genetic cause that might increase the risk of both conditions.

 Chronic Pelvic Pain

Another subset of the research the team examined focused on chronic pelvic pain. The condition affects one in seven women in the United States. In some cases, the pain can be traced to problems such as endometriosis. But for many women, the cause of their chronic pelvic pain remains elusive.

Unsurprisingly, chronic pelvic pain is associated with significantly higher rates of depression, the researchers found. Physical pain may not be the only explanation, however. “A number of studies showed that women who had chronic pelvic pain had an increased rate of childhood sexual trauma,” Ms. Zaks says. “This might point toward an environmental explanation for the increased rate of psychiatric diagnoses.”

 Psychiatric Research at Mount Sinai and Beyond

Learning more about the shared mechanisms might help researchers better understand the development of both psychiatric and reproductive system disorders and could point to new directions for treatment.

The findings also suggest that physicians should do more to screen for and treat co-occurring disorders. “It may be that if you address a patient’s reproductive problems, psychiatric treatments may be more successful,” Dr. Janecka says.

The two researchers plan to continue exploring some of these associations in greater detail, but they hope they won’t be the only ones to dig deeper. “We know this association exists, and we know there’s a gap in the research. The data are there, just waiting to be studied,” Ms. Zaks says.

“One of the main things that struck us is how little is known,” Dr. Janecka adds. “This is just the starting point.”

The Importance of Affirming LGBTQ+ Health

Updated on Jul 6, 2023 | Featured, Your Health

Pride Month, which fell on June, was a time for celebration, reflection, and remembrance of LGBTQ+ struggles and achievements. Throughout the United States’ history, the LGBTQ+ community has faced various health challenges and inequities, from the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s to the mpox outbreak last year.

Although LGBTQ+ individuals’ access to health care has improved compared to decades prior, various health concerns and disparities remain pertinent, says Erick Eiting, MD, MPH, Medical Director for the Emergency Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and for the Urgent Care Center at Mount Sinai-Union Square.

During Pride Month, Dr. Eiting and Antonio Urbina, MD, Medical Director of the Institute of Advanced Medicine, discussed health topics LGBTQ+ individuals should keep in mind, even as they celebrate the progress that has been made.

STI Testing: What’s Important?

Who should be thinking about getting tested for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)? Anyone who is sexually active should be considered for sexual health screening, although some groups may be more at risk, says Dr. Urbina.

While there is no hard rule for how often one should get tested, health providers at Mount Sinai offer screening every three months. These should include not only testing at genital sites, but also others including the throat and anal/rectal regions.

“That’s especially important because oftentimes, someone can have an STI in those compartments and they don’t have any symptoms at all,” says Dr. Urbina, “so the only way that you’re going to be able to detect them is if you actually swab or screen those areas as well.”

Common tests for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis help detect infection and initiate treatment if needed. But other important tests include those for HIV, meningococcal meningitis, and human papillomavirus for vaccination and preventive purposes, Dr. Urbina adds.

HIV: Counseling, Testing, Treatment, Management

As it is hard to know, through initial conversations, which patients might be at risk for HIV, it is incredibly important for health providers to make sure they are not using judgmental language or biases during their interactions, says Dr. Eiting.

“It’s really important for everybody to know their status,” notes Dr. Eiting.

Telling someone that they are HIV-positive when they don’t already know is probably one of the most difficult conversations to have, he adds.

It is really important for people to know that having HIV is considered by the medical community these days as a chronic disease that is oftentimes well-managed with medication, Dr. Eiting says. It is also important for them to have a support system in place so that they may transition into living their lives with the condition, since HIV isn’t the same kind of disease that it was decades ago.

Learn more about HIV/AIDS services at Mount Sinai

It is important for people who test negative for HIV to consider the possibility of being on pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. In addition to a daily pill that can be taken, there is now a long-acting injectable PrEP that is given every two months by intramuscular injection into the buttocks.

“I think it’s all about empowering patients to taking steps that best fit their lifestyles for prevention,” says Dr. Urbina.

As a result of advancements in modern medicine, there are now people with HIV living into their 90s, and more attention needs to be placed on this elderly group. They tend to exhibit a little more physical vulnerability and frailty due to having lived with the virus for so long, says Dr. Urbina. More aggressive screening for malignancies or bone density loss are recommended too.

Mental Health and Substance-Use Disorders

LGBTQ+ people have been observed to have higher rates of psychosocial issues, including depression and substance-use disorder, and health institutions need to reach out to serve these communities better, says Dr. Urbina.

What is PrEP?

Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a pill or injection that lowers the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Using PrEP, however, does not prevent other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Read more about PrEP and how to access it

“I think it’s important for us to sometimes take pause and take stock and remember that even though Pride Month is a month of celebration, and to acknowledge how far we’ve come, we have to remind ourselves that it can often be a time when it really enhances isolation for patients who are feeling that as well,” says Dr. Eiting.

Seeking help for mental health or addiction can be daunting for patients due to stigma. But health providers at clinics across the city, including at Mount Sinai, are being trained to make access comfortable and judgment-free, and so patients should not hesitate to tap those resources when needed, Dr. Eiting says.

Affirming Across the Entire Spectrum

Even though the L in LGBTQ+ comes first, the lesbian community can sometimes be forgotten with respect to health care, notes Dr. Eiting. It is important for health providers to be aware of things like breast cancer or cervical cancer screening for this population.

Studies suggest that some lesbian and bisexual women get less routine health screenings than their heterosexual counterparts due to various factors, including fear of discrimination or low rates of health insurance.

Transgender health care encompasses not just gender-affirming surgeries, but also primary care. For transgender patients, sometimes seeking health care can be stressful because if the conversations are not conducted in a respectful way, they can cause dysphoria.

But stigma should not get in the way of having people live their fullest lives, and transgender individuals should take stock of what their health needs are and have conversations with their doctors, says Dr. Urbina.

Given the current climate of anti-transgender sentiment and legislation across the country, health providers should acknowledge that these developments do leave an impact on their transgender patients. “It’s just important for us to acknowledge that that’s out there… and to make sure that we’re using principles of trauma-informed care whenever we’re talking to our patients about their health care,” says Dr. Eiting.

Read more about how Mount Sinai is empowering health care for LGBTQ+ communities

How to Find an LGBTQ+ Experienced Medical Provider and Why That’s Important

Clearing Misconceptions About Gender-Affirming Care for Transgender and Gender-Diverse People

AI Spotlight: Guiding Heart Disease Diagnosis Through Transformer Models

Jun 20, 2023 | Featured, Research

Akhil Vaid, MD, left, and Girish Nadkarni, MD, MPH, right, are working to make artificial intelligence models more feasible for reading electrocardiograms, using a novel transformer neural network approach.

Electrocardiograms (ECGs) are often used by health providers to diagnose heart disease. At times, irregularities in the recordings are too subtle to be detected by human eyes but can be identified by artificial intelligence (AI).

However, most AI models for ECG analysis use a particular deep learning method called convolutional neural networks (CNNs). CNNs require large training datasets to make diagnoses, which spell limitations when it comes to rare heart diseases that do not have a wealth of data.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed an AI model, called HeartBEiT, for ECG analysis, which works by interpreting ECGs as language.

The model uses a transformer-based neural network, a class of network that is unlike conventional networks but does serve as a basis for popular generative language models, such as ChatGPT.

Here’s how HeartBEiT works as an artificial intelligence deep-learning model, and how it compares to CNNs.

Video Player
HeartBEiT outperformed conventional approaches in terms of diagnostic accuracy, especially at lower sample sizes. Study findings were published in npj Digital Medicine on June 6. Akhil Vaid, MD, Instructor of Data-Driven and Digital Medicine, was lead author, and Girish Nadkarni, MD, MPH, Irene and Dr. Arthur Fishberg Professor of Medicine, was senior author.

In this Q&A, Dr. Vaid discusses the impact of this new AI model on reading ECGs.

What was the motivation for your study?

Deep learning as applied to ECGs has had much success, but most deep learning studies for ECGs use convolutional neural networks, which have limitations.

Recently, the transformer class of models has assumed a position of importance. These models function by establishing relationships between parts of the data they see. Generative transformer models such as the popular ChatGPT utilize this understanding to generate plain-language text.

By using another generative image model, HeartBEiT creates representations of the ECG that may be considered “words,” and the whole ECG may be considered a single “document.” HeartBEiT understands the relationship between these words within the context of the document, and uses this understanding to perform diagnostic tasks better.

What are the implications?

Our model forms a universal starting point for any ECG-based study. When comparing our model to popular CNN architectures on diagnostic tasks, HeartBEiT ended up with equivalent performance and better explanations for the model’s thinking and choices using as little as a tenth of the data required by other approaches.

Additionally, HeartBEiT generates very specific explanations of which parts of an ECG were most responsible for pushing a model towards making a diagnosis.

What are the limitations of the study?

Pre-training the model takes a fair amount of time. However, fine-tuning it for a specific diagnosis is a very quick process that can be accomplished in a few minutes.

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HeartBEiT was compared against other conventional AI methods on diagnostic measures, including left ventricular ejection fraction ≤40%, hypertrophic myopathy, and ST-elevation myocardial infarction, and was found to perform better.
How might these findings be put to use?

Deployment of this model and its derivatives into clinical practice can greatly enhance the manner in which clinicians interact with ECGs. We are no longer limited to models for commonly seen conditions, since the paradigm can be extended to nearly any pathology.

What is your plan for following up on this study?

We intend to scale up the model so that it can capture even more detail. We also intend to validate this approach externally, in places outside Mount Sinai.

Learn more about how Mount Sinai researchers and clinicians are leveraging machine learning to improve patient lives

AI Spotlight: Forecasting ICU Patient States for Improved Outcomes

When Can a Patient Come Off a Ventilator? This AI Can Help Decide

Challenges Faced by Women of Child-Bearing Years With Breast Cancer a Focus of Annual Dubin Breast Center Event

Updated on Jun 16, 2023 | Community, Featured

The annual Dubin Breast Center Fact vs. Fiction symposium provides a forum for Mount Sinai’s nationally recognized physician-researchers to share the latest breakthroughs in breast cancer care and to answer questions related to cutting-edge topics in adolescent and women’s health.

More than 160 guests attended the event on Monday, May 22, raising more than $180,000 in support of the Center. Held at the Harmonie Club in New York, the event was the most attended ever and sold out for the first time.

Leading the event were Mount Sinai Health System Trustee Eva Andersson-Dubin, MD, who founded the Center, which is part of The Tisch Cancer Institute, and Elisa Port, MD, FACS, Chief of Breast Surgery and Director of the Center.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Port emphasized the Center’s continued commitment to providing the most advanced treatment options to all patients.

“The Dubin Breast Center has become a destination in breast cancer care, not only in the city, but in the country and the world. We’re getting patients coming from all over, knowing that the care we deliver is exceptional,” she said. “It’s important to note that what really distinguishes our Center is that we don’t treat patients with breast cancer. We treat people, and we treat people regardless of the ability to pay—that’s always been part of our mission.”

Panelists from left: Amy Tiersten, MD; Christina Weltz, MD; Gylynthia E. Trotman, MD, MPH; Laurie Margolies, MD, FSBI, FACR; and Jeffrey Mechanick, MD.

Dr. Port served as moderator for the discussion with a panel of Mount Sinai experts, which included Amy Tiersten, MD; Christina Weltz, MD; Gylynthia E. Trotman, MD, MPH; Laurie Margolies, MD, FSBI, FACR; and Jeffrey Mechanick, MD. Watch the recording of the event here.

Dr. Tiersten, a renowned medical oncologist, addressed the challenges faced by women of child-bearing years with breast cancer. She pointed to exciting results of a recent clinical trial that studied 500 women aged 42 and under with Stage 1-3 breast cancer, who had been taking certain cancer-fighting medications for 18 to 30 months; these women paused their drug regimen for two years while they attempted to conceive, carry a pregnancy, and breastfeed. About 75 percent of the women in the trial had at least one pregnancy during that time, with no negative effects on their babies. Importantly, the study also found that none of the women appeared to have a higher risk of breast cancer recurrence.

That information was life-changing for Suzanne Foote, a Dubin Breast Center patient who shared her inspirational story at the event. She began regular screenings in her 20s, after learning that she has an inherited PALB2 gene mutation that carries an increased risk for developing the disease. Her mother died from breast cancer when she was only 43. Suzanne Foote was diagnosed in 2019, less than a year after marrying her husband, Mark.

“It was a tremendous shock,” she said, “which reverberated further when we realized cancer would be a hurdle in our quest to start a family.”

Thankfully, her cancer was caught early. Even so, she had a bilateral mastectomy to reduce the chance of the disease returning. Drs. Port and Tiersten also recommended that she undergo in vitro fertilization since some treatments for breast cancer, such as certain types of chemotherapy, can cause infertility. Later on, after consulting with Dr. Tiersten, she decided to take a break from therapy to get pregnant. Her twins, Peter and Josephine, were born at Mount Sinai in September of 2022.

“I was lucky to spend time with the amazing doctors at the Dubin Center. As a result of the time that they spent, here I am, enjoying the best time of my life,” she said. “JoJo and Pete are turning eight months, and I’m still healthy and cancer free.”

The Dubin Breast Center was created in 2011 to provide comprehensive, personalized care for every aspect of breast health, from prevention of disease through survivorship. It offers a full range of services—including the most advanced diagnostics and leading-edge treatments—in one convenient, state-of-the-art location. The Center is also unique for its emphasis on holistic therapies, such as massage, yoga, and meditation, which can promote healing and improve one’s overall well-being.

Delivering the Future of Vaccines With mRNA Technology

Updated on Jun 15, 2023 | Featured, Research, School, Vaccines

From left to right, Peter Palese, PhD, Horace W. Goldsmith Professor of Medicine; Miriam Merad, MD, PhD, Mount Sinai Professor in Cancer Immunology; Özlem Türeci, MD, Chief Medical Officer of BioNTech; Uğur Şahin, MD, Chief Executive Officer of BioNTech; Dennis Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

One of the great tools that helped turn the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic was the use of vaccines, which prevented millions of deaths and hospitalizations in the U.S. and around the world. Key vaccines were those based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which provide information for the molecules that teach the cells in the body to generate proteins used by viruses or cancers, allowing the body’s immune system to recognize and fight off future infections or transformed cancer cells.

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai honored the efforts of executives of German biotechnology firm BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer to develop and make available one of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines in the country, during its 54th Commencement on Thursday, May 11. Uğur Şahin, MD, Chief Executive Officer of BioNTech, and Özlem Türeci, MD, its Chief Medical Officer, received honorary Doctor of Science degrees.

Research into mRNA technology for vaccines goes back to the 1990s, and has grown in leaps and bounds since, said Dr. Türeci in a guest lecture hosted by the Marc and Jennifer Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute, held separately from the Commencement.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for the technology to be adapted at a large scale, and the momentum gained and lessons learned was only the starting point to pave the way for greater heights for the development of mRNA vaccines, she said.

In this Q&A, Drs. Şahin and Türeci spoke about what the future of mRNA vaccines could look like.

After two years of COVID-19 vaccines:

  • An estimated 18 million hospitalizations were prevented
  • More than 3 million deaths were avoided
    Source: New York City-based foundation The Commonwealth Fund

Percentage vaccinated in United States by manufacturer:

  • Pfizer/BioNTech: 60%
  • Moderna: 37%
  • Johnson & Johnson: 3%
    Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

What are some active areas of research in which mRNA technology is being worked on?

Dr. Şahin: There are investigational cancer vaccines in which mRNA technology is being used to deliver instructions to generate antibodies or cytokines. This technology can theoretically be used to deliver any bioactive molecule.

Our focus at the moment is the development of cancer vaccines, and one special application of cancer vaccines we’re working on is the so-called “personalized cancer vaccines.” mRNA technology is particularly well suited to deliver a vaccine that consists of mutations of the tumor identified from the patient.

Dr. Türeci presenting to members of the Marc and Jennifer Lipschultz Precision Immunology Institute.

What is it about mRNA technology that makes it so well suited for cancer vaccines?

Dr. Türeci: We have been interested in cancer vaccines all along, and tried different technologies, and mRNA is the delivery technology that comes with its own edge. Its immunogenicity is very versatile and its transience has the potential to lead to a favorable safety profile. These characteristics are the reasons why we chose mRNA to deliver cancer antigens.

Any solid cancer could be appropriate for application. We have ongoing clinical trials in melanoma, head-and-neck cancer, pancreatic cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer.

Beyond cancer vaccines, we believe any bioactive cancer immunotherapy that is based on protein could be delivered by mRNA.

What about non-cancer diseases? Is mRNA technology suitable there?

Dr. Türeci: There are other areas, such as infectious diseases, in which mRNA could have an advantage. As long as you have the right protein structure to stimulate an immune response, you can theoretically also use mRNA here.

There are clinical trials in infectious diseases: COVID-19, for example, but also malaria or shingles.

What are some current limitations of mRNA technology? And how are researchers working to overcome those?

Dr. Türeci: We are very far advanced in the delivery component of the technology, and these advancements have made COVID-19 vaccines, as well as cancer vaccines in clinical testing, feasible. However, if you want to target specific organs, you need specialized, targeted delivery technologies.

For example, if you want to address something in the brain, you need a delivery technology that brings the mRNA into the brain. There may be monogenetic diseases in which the sample protein is deficient in the organ, and so limits how the mRNA can be expressed there.

So the lipid nanoparticle used to contain the COVID-19 vaccine, for example, might not be applicable for any other organs?

Dr. Türeci: This delivery technology was specifically designed and developed to deliver mRNA to the lymphatic system. If the mRNA needs to be delivered to different organs, it required new formulation.

What is a lipid nanoparticle? Read more about it here

When the public first became aware of mRNA technology through COVID-19 vaccines, there was skepticism. Do you envision similar skepticism as new mRNA vaccines roll out, and if so, how can we dispel such skepticism?

Dr. Türeci: Skepticism can only be addressed by transparent communication, through the disclosure of data, and proper education. I think there is a zeitgeist of skepticism. That skepticism isn’t necessarily specific to mRNA technology. But once they start to understand the mechanisms behind the technology, and the rationale of why we’re working on it, we can start to dispel it.

Do you foresee mRNA technology to grow exponentially into the future?

Dr. Şahin: Yes, mRNA vaccines could be really big, but it will happen slowly. It will take a few more years, but we are starting to see really promising candidates using this technology.

Read more about Research at Mount Sinai

Why Should I Be Concerned About Mpox Now?

Updated on Jun 15, 2023 | Featured, Your Health

Following a successful drive to get New Yorkers vaccinated against mpox—previously known as monkeypox—last summer, mpox cases in New York City waned just as quickly as they had spiked. The city declared an end to its outbreak in February this year.

However, an uptick of mpox cases in Chicago in May has health experts and officials concerned about a possible return of outbreaks nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert in May, informing clinicians and public health agencies about the new clusters and calling on them to raise awareness about treatment, vaccination, and testing.

Between April 17 and May 5, 12 confirmed and one probable case of mpox were reported to the Chicago Department of Public Health. Nine (69 percent) of 13 cases were among men who had received two vaccine doses, and all cases were among symptomatic men. None of the patients was hospitalized.

The virus is most commonly spread through direct contact with a rash or sores of someone who has it. It can also be spread through contact with clothing, bedding, and other items used by someone with mpox.

Symptoms usually start in 3 to 17 days, and can last two to four weeks. Common symptoms include rash or sores that look like blisters—on the face, hands, feet, or inside the mouth, genitals, or anus. Flu-like symptoms such as sore throat, fever, swollen lymph nodes, or headaches are common too.

In this Q&A, Erick Eiting, MD, MPH, Medical Director for the Emergency Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel and for the Urgent Care Center at Mount Sinai-Union Square, discusses what people can do to protect themselves from mpox and the importance of being fully vaccinated.

What is mpox and should I be worried about it?

Mpox is an orthopox virus (a genus that includes smallpox and cowpox). In spring and summer of 2022, we saw a pretty large number of infections here in New York City, across the country, and even across the globe.

Because of a widespread vaccine campaign, we’re now seeing far fewer infections than we had been seeing in the summer of last year. However, we’ve recently seen a small increase in the number of infections in New York City.

Should I be concerned about it now?

We recently saw a fair number of cases—in fact, there were 13 recent cases in Chicago over a relatively short period of time. And even though the number of infections that we’ve seen across the country has been relatively low, this number has been an increase from what we’re used to seeing.

And that’s really causing us to pay more attention to what’s going on and to make sure that we’re being vigilant in case those numbers continue to rise.

Fast facts about mpox

3,821

Cumulative mpox cases in New York City in 2022

70

Number of daily cases at the peak of mpox outbreak

20

Number of cases in New York City from February to May 2023

45%

Percentage of fully vaccinated at-risk individuals in New York City

Top Three Most Vaccinated Regions

  1. California (306,000 doses)
  2. New York City (153,000 doses)
  3. Florida (94,000 doses)

What can I do to prevent it?

The first, and probably most important, is to make sure that if you are concerned about mpox—if you believe you may have risk factors—you really need to get fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated means that you received two doses of the JYNNEOS® vaccine, at least four weeks apart.

Two weeks after you’ve received that second dose of the vaccine, you are considered to be fully vaccinated. So if you’re not fully vaccinated, that is probably one of the most important steps that you can take to prevent getting mpox.

The next part is making sure that you’re having conversations with people like sexual partners. Anybody who may have symptoms at the time could potentially pose a risk for infection, and it’s important to have those conversations.

We don’t consider mpox to be a sexually transmitted disease, but we do know that it comes from close physical contact. So having those conversations is really important, and even asking sexual partners about their vaccination status is also an important step.

The third thing is, if you’re concerned that you may have symptoms that are consistent with an mpox infection—and that could be a rash, which is often very painful, as well as fever, body aches, and chills—then it’s really important that you seek medical care as soon as possible. Some studies have shown that that the vaccine can be helpful in preventing mpox infection even after you’ve been exposed. Or that it can make the infection less severe.

Learn more about the JYNNEOS® vaccine for mpox

If I have only taken one dose of the vaccine and have not completed the series, do I only need to take one more dose? Or do I have to go through the whole series again?

Anybody who’s received one dose already of the JYNNEOS® vaccine only needs one additional dose. You want to make sure that at least four weeks have passed since you’ve got the first dose. You need to get that second dose of the JYNNEOS vaccine in order to be fully vaccinated.

If I had taken both doses last year, should I consider taking another dose?

At this time there is no recommendation for getting a “booster” shot for the JYNNEOS® vaccine, and possibly there may not even be any additional benefit. So at this time we’re not recommending any further doses: two doses are fully sufficient, and if you’ve gotten both of those doses, you’re considered to be fully vaccinated.

Am I adequately protected if I complete my vaccine series now? Am I still protected if I had completed my series last year?

Yes, you will absolutely be protected. You have to keep in mind that no vaccine is perfect; no vaccine will prevent 100 percent of infections. But this is about the best protection that you could potentially have. So if you’ve already gotten those two doses, and two weeks or longer have passed since then, you are fully protected.

Can I stay home if I have symptoms? Who should be seeking treatment?

If you are presenting with symptoms, you should absolutely be seeking treatment. One of the most important steps is getting tested and making sure that we’re confirming the diagnosis of mpox. One of the beneficial parts about this disease is that very few people will go on to have very severe symptoms.

It’s only a very small number of people who have died. The people who are most at risk are people who have some kind of advanced weakened immune system, people who are pregnant, and children.

Seeking testing, vaccination, or treatment for mpox? Find out more here

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