In recent news, there has been an unusual increase in the transmission of Monkey Pox. Monkey pox belongs to the Poxvirdae Family, and is considered to be an Orthopox Virus along side Chicken pox and Small Pox. Usually, these types of viruses are passed from human to human host though droplets, direct contact and/or sexual transmission. With some of the hallmarks of these viruses being fibral, having swelling of the lymph nodes, and have lesions all over the body (Pastula, D. 2022). This new variant of monkey pox is not quite what has been seen in the past. Not only is it transmitting at a faster rate but also those who contract it may present as asymptomatic, without the fever or lesions around the body, only isolated around the genital region (Girometti, R. 2022). This new variant has lead to the questions: who is affected the most and how is this new variant spreading primarily.
A team in Britten has attempted to answer these question by going though cases of confirmed monkey pox, verified though PCR, and observed common trends. They found that all those infected were men who had sex with other men, with a median age of 41 y/o with lesions occurring around the genital sites for most subjects (about 94%) with a few that presented with lesions along the oropharyngeal site (about 7%). (Girmetti, R. 2022). This research suggests that this new form of monkey pox may act more like an STI specifically for men, rather than a traditional Orthopox virus. Considering this unusual expression, it is not clear if this new variant is transmitted though contact with the skin lesions or specifically though bodily fluids (CDC. 2022).
One of the most ethically troubling realities of this discovery is in its demographics. Previously, HIV had been a contributing factor to stigmatize the Homosexual community (Chenard, C. 2007), since this variation only affects males who have intercourse with other males, the presentation of this information to the public may lead to stigmatization. This is only made worse by the fact we don't know how exactly this variant is transmitted. For now, the best that we can do is to encourage safe sex practices to prevent further infection.
LINK TO ARTICLE
-Girometti, R., Bryne, B., Bracchi, M., Heskin, J., McOwan, A., Tittle, V., Gedela, K., Scott, S., Patel, S., Gohil, J., Nugent, D., Suchak, T., Dickinson, M., Feeney, M., Mora-Peris, B., Stegmann, S., Plaha, K., Davies, G., Moore, L., Mughal, N., Asboe, D., Boffito, M., Jones, R., Whitlock, G. (2022). Demographic and clinical characteristics of confirmed human monkeypox virus cases in individuals attending a sexual health centre in London, UK: an observational analysis. The Lancet: Infectious Diseases, Vol 22, Issue 9, Pages 1321-1328. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00411-X
LINK TO OTHER RESOURCES
-CDC, (2022). Monkeypox: how it spreads. Center for disease control. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/if-sick/transmission.html
-Chenard C. (2007). The impact of stigma on the self-care behaviors of HIV-positive gay men striving for normalcy. The Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care : JANAC, 18(3), 23–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jana.2007.03.005
-Pastula, D., Tyler, K. (2022). An Overview of Monkeypox Virus and Its Neuroinvasive Potential. Annals of Neurology, Vol 92, Issue 4, Pages 527-531. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.26473
Hi Mathew,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to read your post because coming off of the COVID pandemic, the threat of another breaking out was intriguing. After your comparison to the HIV pandemic and the link to the homosexual community, do you think we have the resources to react in a more efficient way? In other words, do you think it was caught early enough it won’t become the next HIV, or do you think that homophobia may lessen the resources available? The other interesting point you brought up was the presence of variants that are causing the unknowns to grow. The parallels with COVID and this article are not lost on me because the reliance on individual protection can impact the spread within the population.
-Audrey
I really appreciate this post, given that monkeypox caught a lot of people’s eyes in the aftermath of Covid-19. I too was immediately concerned reading about the current demographics of this virus. I remember reading about the emerging monkeypox virus in news articles many months ago when it was first starting to pop up. Upon learning about the virus demographics thus far I wonder whether it is getting swept under the rag in a similar fashion to HIV/AIDS like you mentioned.
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