The Public Health Agency (PHA) has confirmed that 21 cases of mpox have been detected in Northern Ireland in the last three weeks.
Before this, only nine cases had been reported in Northern Ireland since 2023, meaning the number in recent weeks is a significant increase.
The current cases are more prevalent among men who have sex with men.
The PHA has encouraged those who are eligible for vaccination to contact their local sexual health clinic.
Speaking to News NI, Dr Rachel Coyle, consultant in health protection at the PHA, said: “Over the last three weeks we’ve had 21 cases of mpox diagnosed in Northern Ireland.
“To put that into context, through the rest of 2026 up ’til now we haven’t had any cases of mpox diagnosed, so it does represent a quite a quick increase in the number of cases being diagnosed here.”