UNITED STATES – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified nine cases of monkeypox across seven states in the US, officials said Thursday. The states include California, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Utah, Virginia and Washington.

According to an article from NBC news, CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said the US has the resources it needs to respond to monkeypox at present as it has been “preparing for this type of outbreak for decades.”

Walensky mentioned two vaccines that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for smallpox and stored in the National Strategic Stockpile. The NBC article said the US has 100 million doses of one vaccine, called ACAM2000. The second, called Jynneos, is FDA-approved for use against monkeypox in particular and some doses of it have already been distributed.

Although some of the US patients have a history of travel to areas where monkeypox has been spreading recently, that’s not the case for everyone and Walensky expressed that the latter should be a sign that there may be community spread.

“We need to presume that there is some community spread,” Walensky said.

Nearly all of the cases so far are among men who have sex with men but Walensky emphasised that “the risk of exposure is not limited to any one particular group.”

Massachusetts last week confirmed the first US case in the current outbreak-a man who recently traveled to Canada. He was hospitalised on May 12 and remains in good condition, the state’s health department said.

The second patient arrived at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital on May 19 and tested positive for orthopoxvirus, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In a statement on Thursday, the department said that although “CDC tests did not conclusively identify the monkeypox virus,” the patient was “presumptively diagnosed with monkeypox.”