A recent study indicating that the virus is spreading rapidly among the gay male population has left experts divided. While health experts say targeted messages help with early intervention, campaigners fear it could lead to further marginalization
Technicians wearing PPE suits stand behind a biotic risk poster inside a molecular laboratory facility set up to test for monkeypox disease during its inauguration at the King Institute in Chennai this month. Images/Getty
Clarifications are in order. After new evidence revealed that monkeypox, recently declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO), was very common among the gay and bisexual population, there has been growing fear within the queer community who might face a repeat of the discrimination they experienced during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
One of the most alarming studies appeared in the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, which revealed that at least 98% of the 528 cases of monkeypox infection analyzed involved gay or bisexual men. The article, written by a group of more than 30 physicians, who contributed to an international case series to describe the presentation, clinical course, and results of polymerase chain reactions, indicated that a sexual relationship between men could be a possible reason behind the spread.
Arif Jafar, Dr. Anita Mathew, Prarthana Sham and Yashwinder Singh
Speaking to Midday, Professor Chloe Orkin, director of the Sexual Health and HIV All East Research (SHARE) Collaboration at Queen Mary University of London, who had been reaching out to colleagues in affected countries in through informal clinical networks and formed a Global Collaborative Group (SHARE-net) for research, sets the record straight: “Monkey pox is a human disease and not a gay disease, so any can contract monkey pox.” “The virus was introduced into the sexual networks of men who have sex with men and has spread rapidly due to international community events such as Pride parades and festivals, which are places where people socialize and can meet and connect. The opening of global travel again has caused the virus to spread from country to country in men who have sex with men,” he says.
Does this mean that people with heterosexual connections are safer from the impact of the virus? Orkin admits that it is “currently spreading to the gay community”, but clarifies that “it is likely to spread to the straight community and there are already cases in women in the UK”. [14 of around 2,000 cases], in addition to two pediatric cases in the US that I know of. If he enters dense heterosexual sexual networks [commercial sex workers or heterosexuals in open relationships it is likely to spread similarly].”
A man holds a banner that says “Where’s the vaccination?” during the Christopher Street Day demonstration in Berlin, an annual European LGBTQiA+ celebration
Globally, however, people have already hit the panic button: the narrative has been turned on its head, putting the LGBTQiA+ community on the spot.
Earlier in the week, the WHO recommended that gay and bisexual men limit their number of sexual partners to help reduce transmission of the fast-spreading virus. As of July 27, more than 18,000 cases of monkeypox were reported in 78 countries (70% of cases were from the European region and 25% from the Americas region). Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to US President Joe Biden, also stated that men who have sex with men (MSM) should be among those prioritized for the monkeypox vaccine to the United States.
Chloe Orkin
On Friday, monkeypox was declared an imminent public health threat in New York, while San Francisco declared a state of health emergency.
Benjamin Ryan, a New York City-based freelance science reporter who covers monkeypox for NBC News, told Noon that “the evidence supports the perception that monkeypox is transmitted between men who have sex with men is overwhelming.” “All the available data supports this, as does the UK data indicating a large disparity in the positivity rate of the monkeypox test between men, women and children… transmission patterns may change. .. But so far, almost three months into this outbreak, transmission patterns have remained fairly consistent.”
Health workers examine the limbs of passengers arriving on international flights for symptoms of smallpox at the Anna International Airport terminal in Chennai last month. Tamil Nadu stepped up vigilance after the first case was reported in Kerala in early July
The way the virus is spreading has forced many to compare it to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a sexually transmitted disease that in its early years was said to be very common among the gay population. Ripples of widespread stigmatization and acts of homophobia are still felt today. Dr Anita Mathew, an infectious disease specialist at Fortis Hospital in Mulund, says that unlike HIV/AIDS, sexual contact is not the only means of transmission of the monkeypox virus. Orkin explains that “monkey pox is spread by skin-to-skin contact with infected skin lesions and/or with sheets and towels where it can persist for weeks.” “It can also spread through large droplets [sneezing and coughing]. It is a disease that affects humans, well anyone [irrespective of sexual orientation] I could theoretically have monkey pox,” says Orkin.
Mathew adds that while HIV/AIDS is serious, lifelong and causes a severe immunocompromised state, monkeypox, which was first reported in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, “is a disease self-limiting, which will only lead to a reduction in the functionality of life for people.” the few weeks you have the disease”. Although the mortality from monkeypox, according to the WHO, has been 3-6%, only five deaths have been reported worldwide so far. India has reported four cases so far. According to the WHO, the clinical presentation of smallpox resembles that of smallpox, an orthopoxvirus-related infection that was declared eradicated worldwide in 1980. Monkeypox is less contagious than smallpox and causes less serious illnesses. It usually presents clinically with fever, body rash and swollen lymph nodes and can lead to a range of medical complications.
Ryan admits that the stigmatization of gay and bisexual men who have sex with men (GBMSM) will be a concern. “…Especially if people exaggerate how easily this virus is transmitted. Early data and studies suggest that the virus can be transmitted largely sexually and very rarely through less intimate forms of contact. If people have a exaggerated sense of the risk of transmission of monkeypox through domestic contact or close non-sexual contact, may discriminate against gay men, not wanting them around their children, for example,” he says.
According to Orkin, one of the difficulties is that GBMSM is a marginalized community that has already been marked for stigmatization during the HIV epidemic. “No one wants to repeat this. On the other hand, public health messages are most effective when they are targeted at people who are at risk of the disease. Given that this pandemic is almost exclusively affecting GBMSM, targeting relevant messages to to that community and working to develop interventions with that community is what is needed to help GBMSM protect themselves and engage with health care.”
Mental health activists and experts in India, however, believe the worst is yet to come. Lucknow-based gay rights activist Arif Jafar, who is managing director of Naz Foundation International, believes the new findings will push the marginalized community into a watertight wall. Jafar, who spent about 47 days in jail in Lucknow in 2001 for his role in HIV intervention in the queer community, believes monkeypox studies need to deepen and increase sample sizes to reflect the world appropriately, in front of a particular group of people. is guilty “These conclusions are easy to draw, but they can lead to acts of violence against the gay and bisexual community,” he believes. Yashwinder Singh, Head of Community System Strengthening with The Humsafar Trust, says that when the WHO has already said that monkeypox can affect anyone and everyone, it is important for the media to report developments carefully and responsibly. “With such a narrative, you risk a false perception that straight and straight people will not be affected by the disease. Which is not true. We need to look at this through the lens of pure science, and not of emotion.” Singh believes that the reason why there might be a higher number of smallpox cases among GBMSM is because of the widespread prevalence of awareness programs initiated because of HIV/AIDS. “At least in India, this is why the LGBTQiA+ population gets tested regularly. How many straight men get tested regularly?” asks the Delhi-based activist.
“The first feelings I experienced when I read the study were frustration,” says Prarthana Sham, a Bengaluru-based therapist who works closely with the queer population. “Not everyone has the ability to discern what news involves what, and it becomes frustrating because of how the community will be treated. [With such studies] stereotypes about what goes on within the queer community are only perpetuated. There is already moral discrimination against them… they are hypersexualized. That doesn’t help.” 98 Percentage of infection in gay or bisexual men out of 528 cases analyzed in a study
14 No. of women who have been diagnosed with monkeypox out of about 2,000 cases in the UK
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