It’s been a week with no new monkeypox cases in Nashville

Monkeypox may be on its way out in Nashville, mirroring the national trend. The latest weekly report from the Metro Public Health Department has no new cases — a first since the outbreak began locally.

The monkeypox virus typically spreads through intimate contact, but it’s not a sexually transmitted infection. Just touching open sores is enough to pass the virus. So there were concerns that the outbreak could quickly spread if left unchecked — and those concerns still exist.

But contact tracing and targeted vaccinations have helped contain the spread, both in Nashville and elsewhere. At this point, there are only a couple dozen people with active infections in Davidson County.

Metro Public Health Department officials confirm a total of 157 presumptive cases of monkeypox reported in Nashville/Davidson County in 2022. 128 of those 157 cases have recovered and are no longer in isolation. No new cases have been added in the past week. pic.twitter.com/n3iiPadEse

— NashvilleHealth (@NashvilleHealth) November 3, 2022

Vaccinations are still available in Nashville but remain limited to those who believe they’ve been exposed or have had multiple sexual partners in the last 14 days.

Cases have been isolated primarily to men who have sex with men and are sexually active with multiple partners.

“It’s not in those long-term monogamous relationships, or men who have an additional, occasional partner every couple of months,” Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a professor of medicine and public health at the University of Southern California, tells NPR. “This is really [concentrated among] men who have multiple new partners every week.”

A study published in September in the journal Science found the rate of monkeypox spread depends greatly on sexual activity. That’s helped keep kids safe from infection, with just 38 cases in children under 16 nationwide, according to figures kept by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some experts doubt that monkeypox can be completely stamped out, but Klausner says there may be “regional elimination.”