Everything We Know (And Don’t Know) About How Monkeypox Spreads

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Everything We Know (And Don’t Know) About How Monkeypox Spreads Jamie Wareham Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Founder, QueerAF – I report on LGBTQ+ life, identities and being queer Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Sep 23, 2022, 04:00am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin WILTON MANORS, FLORIDA – JULY 12: A healthcare worker prepares to administer a vaccine to Michael .

. . [+] Nicot for the prevention of monkeypox the Pride Center on July 12, 2022 in Wilton Manors, Florida.

The center is offering the free smallpox/monkeypox vaccinations from the Florida Department of Health in Broward County as South Florida leads the state in the number of people infected. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Getty Images The first human case of monkeypox was in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But despite it now being endemic in large parts of Central and West Africa – we don’t know much about this virus.

That’s starting to change, but only after an outbreak affecting the global north began in May 2022. Since then, experts have been racing to work out why the virus has been spreading between people. Particularly because it’s happening in a way not seen before.

“I’m asked a lot, ‘what happens if I’m on the dance floor’, or ‘if I’m in an airplane and someone’s got monkeypox – am I going to catch it?'” Professor Chole Orkin told the What The Pox? podcast by QueerAF. “I’m asked: ‘Is it going to spread outside the sexually active gay/bi men’s community? ‘ ‘What if it spreads to women and children?'” All these questions can be answered in one way: there isn’t much we do know. “It’s a neglected infection.

The doctors in Africa have been begging for help and sounding alarms that it’s been increasing. Both in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a large outbreak in Nigeria in 2020. MORE FOR YOU Stuff You Shouldn’t Say To Disabled People 3 Ways Disability Culture Has Been Changing I’m Right And You’re Wrong: Social Media Sins “Do we know anything about this disease? No.

Why? Because it’s a disease that affected black bodies in Africa. There was very little market for drugs because governments in Africa couldn’t afford them. ” However, experts like Orkin, are changing that.

What do we know about the way monkeypox spreads? Since the global north outbreak Orkin has led a massive research project. It features case studies from all around the world to understand more about how the virus is transmitted. Thanks to this study we have an updated list of symptoms appearing in this outbreak, compared to previous ones.

“I looked at the map, and where the cases were and sent some emails. I went from person to person until I found people who had monkeypox. It got bigger and bigger until it was 16 countries, 43 sites and 528 people with the virus” “The challenge was it was clearly spreading differently to what we’d seen previously.

“We were seeing things that aren’t listed, like throat problems, terrible sores in their mouth and anue – not being able go to the toilet. Being admitted for this, and needing surgical draining or even a catheter. ” One thing quickly became clear, sex was a major factor in the outbreak.

Promotional image for What The Pox? podcast featuring Dr Chloe Orkin – Monkeypox stories without . . .

[+] shame or stigma Supplied: QueerAF Is monkeypox a STI? Monkeypox spreads primarily through skin-to-skin contact. And in Orkin’s research, that contact, in the majority of cases, was through sexual activity. Yet, because the virus can pass between people without sex – she says “it isn’t what we’d traditionally call a sexually transmitted disesase.

” There is also some evidence of household transmission, though it usually only happens in a chain of a few people. That could be because of large droplets from coughs and sneezing, touching the infected lesions or from sharing ben linen or towels. In Orkin’s study, the stats were clear – it was spreading within a dense sexual network.

“76-99% of cases are related to sexual closeness. People have got het up over whether it’s an STI or not. You can get it without having sex, so in that sense it’s not described as an STI.

“However nearly all of the cases [in her study] have been connceted with sexual closeness. ” How does monkeypox spread? “The skin lesions are the most infectious,” Orkin explains on the What The Pox? podcast. “The best way the virus can have transmission is in skin-to-skin contact with infected legions.

Orkin’s study also found that the virus was in semen. She believes the virus could also be passed on through semen but notes that research still needs to be conducted to see if this is the case. “There were five centers who tested semen and in a total of 32 people, we found it in 29 people – a high proportion.

However, it being present is a different question to whether it’s infectious in semen. The virus has to be replication competent, to be able to infect another cell. “But if you asked me what I think, I’d say it probably can be sexually transmitted via semen.

I feel quite strongly about that. But regardless of whether it’s infecting people via semen, it is during sex that it’s transmitting because of the skin to skin contact” A man waits in line to recieve the Monkeypox vaccine before the opening of a new mass vaccination . .

. [+] site at the Bushwick Education Campus in Brooklyn on July 17, 2022, in New York City. – New York, on the US East Coast, has already either administered or scheduled 21,500 vaccines and hopes to speed up the process, promising more than 30,000 jabs for the whole state.

(Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images Can monkeypox be transmitted though the air? The professor also spoke about some evidence that suggests it could be passed via the air. Respiratory secretions through face-to-face interactions are also listed as a transmission point by the CDC. “If you measure the viral load (the amount of virus), in lesions to say respiratory secrections – they are much lower in respiatory, than on the skin,” Orkin explains.

So what can we be confident in when it comes to surfaces and the air? “We know the virus can live on surfaces for up to 15 days, possibly longer depending on the surface. If someone is sick, and you’re changing their sheets and it goes in the air – you are at a risk of catching it. “The point is, it’s about the amount of virus, and how high the infecting dose is – and when you have sex there is sustained amount of time rubbing skin.

That’s different to rubbing against someone’s tshirt. ” Understand even more LGBTQIA+ news this week. Get QueerAF, my free weekly newsletter every Saturday, which also supports underrepresented queer creatives to build a media career.

Quotes in this article were edited for clarity. What The Pox? is available in podcast apps. Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn .

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