Why monkey pox affects gay

Monkeypox virus, or MPXV, is an emerging threat to general health. The Society Health Organization recently declared the current outbreak a global public health emergency.

For decades, several African countries have experienced ongoing outbreaks of MPXV, driven primarily by contact with animals and transmission within households. However, before last year, most people in Europe and North America had never even heard of the disease. That was until the current outbreak among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.

Debates over the epidemiology of MPXV

Over the past several months, a controversy has raged about whether it’s OK to say that the current MPXV outbreak is primarily affecting gay and bisexual men, and that it is primarily being spread through close personal contact, such as sex.


Browse more: Metaphors matter: Why changing the name 'monkeypox' may help curb the discriminatory language used to discuss it


As a social and behavioural epidemiologist productive with marginalized populations, including gay and bisexual men, I believe it’s vital that people grasp that sexual and gender minority men are the first victims of this MPXV outbreak. I believe this

Monkeypox and gay men: Separating stigma from health advice

Lauren Moss, LGBT correspondent & Josh Parry, LGBT producer

BBC News

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A large proportion of monkeypox cases diagnosed in the UK are among gay and pansexual men.

Doctors and public-health experts have spoken to the BBC about the "delicate balance" of keeping those currently most at peril informed, without stigmatising them or letting others grow complacent.

Does monkeypox spread faster among gay and bisexual men?

The concise answer is no. Anyone can be infected by monkeypox.

The virus is not a sexually transmitted infection. It's mostly caught through close physical skin-to-skin contact, which is why it can be spread to sexual partners.

But with most confirmed cases among men who own sex with men, doctors are encouraging this collective to be particularly sharp to symptoms.

Mateo Prochazka, an epidemiologist from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: "The infections are not about sexuality. We are concerned about monkeypox in general, as a public threat. We are worried about everyone's health."

So why are lgbtq+ men catching it more right no

Monkeypox is spreading among same-sex attracted men worldwide

The Nature Health Organization (WHO) has now confirmed nearly 100 cases of monkeypox in over a dozen countries, with the largest number in the UK. While most cases so far are among gay and bisexual men, health officials emphasise that anyone can contract the virus through close personal contact.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported the first case in the current outbreak on 7 May in a man who had recently travelled to Nigeria, where monkeypox is endemic. This was soon followed by two additional cases who share a common and four cases among gay and bisexual men, all of whom come to have contracted the virus locally. As of 23 May, UKHSA has reported 70 confirmed cases in England and one in Scotland.

The latest WHO update on 21 May listed 92 confirmed and 28 suspected cases. After the UK, the most cases have been reported in Spain and Portugal, with smaller numbers in several other European countries, Canada, the United States and Australia. An informal tally by Global.health, compiled from various sources, listed more than 300 confirmed or suspected cases worldwide as of 25 May.

Cases so far have “mainly but not ex

Since early May, more than 23,000 cases of monkeypox possess been reported worldwide. This is the largest ever global outbreak of the disease.

Cases have now been reported in 78 countries including the UK, Spain, Germany, France, the US and Brazil. Given the scale of the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) has now declared the current monkeypox epidemic a global health emergency.

While anyone can get monkeypox, the current outbreak is overwhelmingly affecting sexually active homosexual, bisexual and other men who hold sex with men. In fact, our recent study which looked at 528 monkeypox infections since the start of the outbreak establish that 98% of these infections had occurred in this group. Here’s what these men necessitate to know.

How it spreads

Monkeypox is a disease caused by infection with the human monkeypox virus, which comes from the same virus family as smallpox. In fact, symptoms are quite similar to smallpox and include fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, cold symptoms (such as a cough or sore throat).

Symptoms are also accompanied by a rash that appears in blisters on the face, genitals, the chest and back, and on the hands and feet. Some people also experience ve

Monkeypox: Why are gay and bisexual men more affected?

Regardless of sexual orientation, the main factor of propagation remains the multiplicity of sexual partners.

Lire en français

As of July 26, Monkeypox has not caused any deaths in Europe, but the disease is gaining ground. With nearly 17,000 cases worldwide, World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus triggered the uppermost level of alert on monkeypox on July 23.

Santé Publique France (SPF), France's public health agency, has recorded 1,567 patients in the country since May. 3% of those contain been hospitalized. This epidemic differs from the waves observed so far in a dozen African countries, notably in the patients' profile: almost exclusively men, most of them males who have sex with males, known as "MSM" in the scientific community.

Read moreMonkeypox: How is it transmitted and what are the symptoms?

The question is why MSM are overrepresented among the affected. First, it is important to keep in mind that the SPF figures are still incomplete. Screening is just starting and complicated by the fact that symptoms are nonspecific. "This virus behaves like a great imitator of herpes or

why monkey pox affects gay