New York City passes 1,000 monkeypox infections, cases 'primarily' among gay men

New York City has officially crossed 1,000 confirmed monkeypox infections, a number city health authorities say is likely an undercount as "many more cases" have probably gone undetected. 

The city Department of Health said in an update this week that "as of July 25, 1,040 people in New York City have tested positive for orthopoxvirus/monkeypox."

"Cases in NYC are increasing, and there are likely many more cases that have not been diagnosed," the city said, noting that "the current cases are primarily spreading among social networks of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men."

The city's status as the U.S. epicenter of the global monkeypox outbreak comes alongside elevated COVID cases there, raising the specter of another health crisis in the city roughly two years after it became the first nationwide center of the COVID crisis. 

Monkeypox is overwhelmingly non-fatal, with just five deaths reported worldwide from thousands of cases. As in the U.S., globally nearly all cases have been associated with gay men.