Sex between men, not skin contact, is fueling monkeypox, new research suggests

[Zeitghost]

In recent weeks, a growing body of scientific evidence — including a trio of studies published in peer-reviewed journals, as well as reports from national, regional and global health authorities — has suggested that experts may have framed monkeypox’s typical transmission route precisely backward.
Reconceiving the primary risk factors for transmission is crucial because of how it may affect guidance on reducing the risk of infection, including the question of whether demanding that people with the virus self-isolate has any substantial impact on transmission.

“A growing body of evidence supports that sexual transmission, particularly through seminal fluids, is occurring with the current MPX outbreak,” said Dr. Aniruddha Hazra, medical director of the University of Chicago Sexual Wellness Clinic, referring to monkeypox and to recent studies that found the virus in semen.

Consequently, scientists told NBC News that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health authorities should update their monkeypox communication strategies to more strongly emphasize the centrality of intercourse among gay and bisexual men, who comprise nearly all U.S. cases, to the virus’ spread...








https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna43484

[JustAnotherGen]

1. How did the greyhound dog

In France get it then?

[Timewas]

3. I can guess

But really they don't say "exclusively" in that article..

[BannonsLiver]

9. Ummmm

[milestogo]

14. Well, he's French, for starters.

Which probably led to him being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[sarisataka]

2. It is following the same path as HIV

For the most part. It is a chance to apply lessons learned.

[JohnSJ]

4. Terrible headline. Implying only sex between men, not between men and women. Monkey pox

I suspect would be transmissible either way.

[Demovictory9]

8. rightwing radio is making it an anti gay male thing.

[JohnSJ]

10. That is what I was thinking. Not only opening an anti-gay talking point, but also falsely

giving the impressions that it only affects gays

[Demovictory9]

36. worse...implying that because male gays disportionate victims should not be public emergency

[Demsrule86]

11. Just another attack on LGBTQ...NBC is not progressive at all. Honestly I wish the poster would

delete this article. It is slanted, anti-LGBTQ, and just plain wrong.

[Zeitghost]

13. If you have any evidence

To suggest the peer reviewed papers and the medical experts quoted in the article are wrong, please by all means share it.

I have no reason to think people like Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, an infectious disease physician at the University of Southern California or Dr. Aniruddha Hazra, medical director of the University of Chicago Sexual Wellness Clinic would be spreading lies.

[Demsrule86]

18. How about some common sense. We now know that HIV is transmitted through

heterosexual relations as well as homosexual relations...do you really believe as NBC has implied that Monkey-Pox is a 'gay' disease? What is it the 'gay cooties' found only in gay men or something?

And there is evidence that shows that is not the case. The article generally sucks and shows NBC's biases and attempts to increase their conservative audience at the expense of truth. This article contains half-truths at best, and it is a damn shame, that it is posted here. I would never post an article that labels Monkey-Pox a 'Gay disease' because it sure as hell can be transmitted through heterosexual relations as well...body fluids are involved here too. Also, close contact with family members can spread it as well. So, the article is dangerously misinforming people.

A more balanced article that does not label this a 'Gay Disease but one that is spread through intimate contact with body fluid.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/23/health/monkeypox-lgbtq/index.html

Anyone Can Get Monkey Pox

"Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted disease, but it can spread through intimate contact during sex when someone has an active rash.
It also can spread through large respiratory droplets, but because large droplets don't travel far in the air, the contact has to be prolonged for this to happen.
Monkeypox can spread through direct contact with bodily fluids or through contact with contaminated clothes or bedsheets, according to the CDC.
"Anyone can spread monkeypox [from] contact with body fluid or monkeypox sores or respiratory droplets when close to someone," Brooks said."

"...There's a lot of stigma and discrimination that surrounds many diseases, and I think the key thing we need to look out for is, as WHO, to work with our partners in communities and elsewhere to make sure that the messaging is correct. So while we are seeing some cases among men who have sex with men, this is not a gay disease," WHO adviser Andy Seale said Monday..."

[Zeitghost]

20. So no....

The article does not say it's a gay disease. Why would you try to spin it that way?

It says it primarily being spread through the exchange of seminal fluid and is mostly (but not entirely) being spread by male to male sexual contact.

If 75%+ of the people infected are being infected through a single method of transmission, it seems to me that's a pretty darn good place to start when considering public health strategies.

[Demsrule86]

27. Yes it does...and I only hope we don't see a real backlast because of what I consider such

irresponsible articles. I am thankful that thus far the disease is relatively mild but unpleasant.

[Zeitghost]

28. I find it odd

That you see the truth as irresponsible.

[Demsrule86]

30. I find it odd that you think it is true. Sex is sex...it can be transmitte in heterosexual relations

as well unless you believe with no evidence that Gay men's fluids are especially noxious and prone to disease. I do not believe that. It can also be contracted by close contact among family members other than sex. So the article is wrong and promotes bigotry IMHO and it is deliberate. I suggest you read the more balanced dare I say truthful article I put on one of my posts. Aids was first found in the gay community but we now know it can be transmitted heterosexually as well. It is a matter of mixing body fluids and some caught it through blood transfusion too.

[Act_of_Reparation]

32. Ah, another graduate of the Google University School of Epidemiology...

[Demsrule86]

33. Actually, I have degrees in Chemistry and biology...but I digress.

Monkey Pox is transmitted through body fluids and some have caught it by close contact with those who have it of a non-sexual nature...not male body fluids as the article suggest. It may have begun in the homosexual community as Aids did but it won't remain there any more than a
Aids did. I can't believe that some here appear to think that this disease is somehow a Gay disease ...it is not. And this sort of rhetoric will lead to more bigotry toward the Gay community.

[Act_of_Reparation]

38. Neither of which confers any particular expertise in the topic of viral transmission.

No one said this is a "gay disease". No one said it is only transmissible through gay sex. No one said gay men have "more noxious fluids", or that that the disease cannot be contracted in many different ways.

Just so we're clear: Monkey pox is not a "gay disease". There is, in point of fact, no such thing as a "gay disease". Monkey pox can be transmitted by way of various bodily fluids, under a variety of different circumstances. There's nothing about gay men, as people, that makes them more susceptible to infection or more prone to transmission.

HIV, as you noted, can be transmitted a variety of different ways, but not every method is equally efficacious. Straight women, for example, are twice as likely to contract the disease from an infected partner than straight men. This is not because the disease prefers women, but because (and I don't believe I have to explain this to another adult human being) the mechanics of hetero sex are not uniform. That is, the penetrating partner does not have the same level of exposure as the penetrated partner.

Now, you have argued that we have to be careful here because we don't want bigotry directed towards the gay community, and I completely agree. But if there's an increased risk of contracting the disease from gay sex, then the gay community deserves to know about it so they can take the appropriate precautions. To know and not tell them would be wildly unethical.

[Zeitghost]

40. Well said

Could not agree more.

This has and will continue to affect more than gay men. But there are aspects of sex between men and aspects of the gay male lifestyle that are putting that segment of the population at much higher levels of risk. To know this and not make it widely known in those communities is as you say, wildly unethical. It's shocking to see so many here participate in pushing those false narratives.

[Jack the Greater]

37. The Wikipedia School of Viral Transmission has this to say about monkeypox

Last edited Thu Aug 18, 2022, 05:02 PM - Edit history (1)

"Humans can be infected by an animal via a bite or scratch, bush meat preparation, or by contact with an infected animal’s bodily fluids or lesion material. The virus is thought to enter the body through broken skin, the respiratory tract, or the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, or mouth. Once a human is infected, transmission to other humans is common, with family members and hospital staff at particularly high risk of infection. The virus can spread by respiratory (airborne) contact or by direct contact with an infected person's bodily fluids or during pregnancy from mother to fetus. There are indications that transmission can occur during sexual contact, with infectious monkeypox virus able to be isolated from semen samples."

The article contains this sentence, “A growing body of evidence supports that sexual transmission, particularly through seminal fluids, is occurring with the current MPX outbreak." This sentence seems to imply that this is a surprising finding, as in "growing body of evidence". The Wikipedia article cites a variety of ways that the monkeypox virus can spread among humans, and adds, almost as an afterthought, that "There are indications that transmission can occur during sexual contact".

It seems that historically, the data indicates that the spread of monkeypox among humans has been primarily through means other that sexual transmission. Having noted that, the article points out that almost all cases of monkeypox in the US have been occurring in gay men. This can be seen as either a slur on gay men, or as a public service announcement for gay men. It all depends on one's "frame of mind", "attitude" or whatever you might call it.

[Zeitghost]

39. You're putting words in my mouth

And I'd like you to stop.

Neither I nor the article stated it can only be transmitted through homosexual sex.

[JohnSJ]

16. It isn't just NBC

[Demsrule86]

21. read the article I posted. This is a crap article and labels Monkey Pox a 'gay' disease which it

is not.

[JohnSJ]

22. Thanks

[UnderThisLaw]

44. Good luck with that

It’s obvious the usual suspects love the article and resultant outrage

[Zeitghost]

12. That a bit of a stretch

The headline says fueling which in no way implies it's the only way to get it, only the most prevalent. Which seems to be 100% backed by the science and numbers.

The main point is that this is being spread by transmission of bodily fluids during sex, not merely by skin to skin contact, even though that is also possible. This simple fact was being shouted down here and still is. For some odd reason a group that took the science behind the transmission of COVID so seriously do not want to address this illness with the same level of concern.

The only way to control the spread is to warn people about its most likely pathways of transmission and then take serious steps to disrupt those pathways.

[Demsrule86]

31. Well I suppose when some read this article and engage in heterosexual realtions, they will

breathe a sigh of relief that they won't get it... because while your post says during 'sex', the article says during homosexual sex. This creates a false impression and will lead to more, not fewer infections. It will also likely lead to attacks on the Gay community.

[Zeitghost]

41. Nobody

With an open and honest mind and with a decent reading comprehension level could ever read the article that was linked to and come away with the belief that you can only get monkeypox through homosexual relations.

[Demsrule86]

5. First of all. Like HIV, I expect it will be shown to spread through heterosexual relations as well.

And this one can be spread through contact as well despite NBC's anti-LGBTQ crap article

[ismnotwasm]

6. Pretty much

Last edited Thu Aug 18, 2022, 12:51 PM - Edit history (1)

I actually went to the studies. We already knew it was prevalent in the male gay community. That’s who the studied concentrated on. Using words like “most” which certainly isn’t “all”

[Sneederbunk]

23. Like HIV it is not a gay disease, but is propagated by promiscuous gays.

[Demsrule86]

35. So, I suppose if one is not promiscuous and/or Gay than one won't catch

monkey-pox? I know I am being snarky...but promiscuous (define it)is a very judgemental word.

[Zeitghost]

43. Nobody to my knowledge has made that claim here

But we can't worry about tiptoeing around the promiscuity issue when there is a growing public health concern. Whatever one's views are on the ethics of casual sex with multiple partners, that needs to be set aside when discussing the transmission of a disease. We can have discussions on the realities of certain diseases being more commonly spread in the gay male community without casting judgement on lifestyle choices and the first way to do that is by acknowledging reality and facts.

[Lettuce Be]

15. How do they explain babies getting Monkeypox? This is ridiculous

I admit, I did not read the article, so just my knee-jerk thoughts.

[Zeitghost]

17. Through other forms of transmission

The article (and headline) never claim it's the only way, only the most common.

[Demsrule86]

24. This seems like yellow journalism to me and false.

[Zeitghost]

29. When the vast majority of cases

Are transmitted between men during sex, do you honestly believe it is false to say sex between men is fueling the spread of the disease?

[Demsrule86]

34. That is not what the article says. It is more prevalent in the gay community for sure

and is being spread there. But it can spread to those having heterosexual sex just as easily once it gains a foot hold which sadly it likely will just like Aids...it is not a Gay disease but one transmitted by body fluids.

[Zeitghost]

42. It's precisely what the article said

It clearly states monkeypox is being largely (but not entirely) spread through bodily fluids, primarily, (but not exclusively) within the gay male community.

Which seems to be exactly what the research is showing.

[Demsrule86]

26. This article will do real harm to the Gay community. And while it may have first shown up there,

that doesn't mean others are not a risk or this is a gay disease...transmitted by men...totally bullshit if you ask me.

[dweller]

19. Covid is found in semen/testicles

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/10/20/patients-semen-had-covid-19-coronavirus-plus-low-sperm-count-11-weeks-after-infection/?sh=3dba002b5289


No mention of sexual transmission … but studies are limited


✌🏻

[Sympthsical]

25. "Trust the science" is rapidly becoming "Narrate the science"

Weird how that shifts around.

Anyway, I have several gay friends who have contracted it. Fortunately, the symptoms have been unpleasant but mild. We've been having discussions in my LGBT social spaces about safety, risk, and just general approach ("Take a vacation from Grindr, people." )

The vaccine has been a bit of a project to get. One thing to note that a friend mentioned just last night is that he has an antibiotic allergy (I forget which one), so getting the vaccine is a trick for him. (The vaccine itself is not an antibiotic, it's just in the ingredients).

I'm monogamous generally anyway, so it's not really a thing with me at present. But it's goin around. The more information, the better.

I don't get this absolutely ferocity in pretending that gay and bisexual men don't have way more sexual partners - including anonymous ones or strangers - than other groups. Where sensitivity imperils and intrudes on scientific and epidemiological vigor.

I'm gay. I promise. We be fuckin'.

Sensitivity stops where my community's health and safety begins. Take the Twitter war elsewhere. It's not helping.