Painfull gay

Even as Covid restrictions have loosened, for many gay men, an uninvited guest called monkeypox has threatened to spoil painfull gay festivities. Of the 6, confirmed monkeypox cases in the global outbreak, the vast majority have occurred among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, or MSM, various health authorities report.

Epidemiologists have stressed that monkeypox can still transmit among other groups of people, although the risk to non-MSM at this time does remain low. Monkeypox has tended to present relatively mildly during this outbreak and has caused no deaths outside of the 11 African nations in which the virus has become endemic since it was discovered in Nevertheless, 18 gay men who contracted monkeypox told NBC News how it can cause unsightly and in some cases debilitatingly painful skin lesions — and has left them stuck glumly inside.

John is among the swiftly expanding group of U. California, New York, Illinois and Florida are the states with the highest numbers of confirmed cases. Some of the men, like John, who shared their stories about having monkeypox with NBC News asked to only use their first names to protect their medical privacy.

Most of the men interviewed expressed a strong sense of duty to draw attention to this new pathogen spreading so concerningly within their community. They also hope to combat stigma against those who contract the virus by giving it a human face. Epidemiologists believe they have traced the global spread of monkeypox to midspring gatherings of gay men in Western Europe.

These parties drew many men from other cities, some of whom then apparently carried the virus back home. Nearly all the men who spoke with NBC News about having monkeypox said they were fairly certain they could trace their infections back to sexual encounters. Quite a few traveled during the weeks before developing signs of the infection.

Justin, 38, said after returning home May 18 from a two-week European vacation, he became the 14th person in the U. He said his case started with a bad fever, which along with symptoms such as swollen lymph nodes, headache, body aches, chills and exhaustion are common monkeypox signs.

Soon after, the telltale lesions crept across his body. Monkeypox typically has an incubation period of about six to 13 days, but this stretch of time between exposure to the virus and the emergence of symptoms can last as long as three weeks. Researchers have not studied whether the virus transmits asymptomatically; at least in theory, it might, experts say.

The period of active lesions, when the virus is most certainly contagious, lasts about two to four weeks, according to the CDC. He made stops in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin, having sex with multiple partners along the way, he said, including in a bathhouse and a sex club in the German capital.

Nine days after returning home, Jeff came down with an intense fever and headache. Peter, painfull gay, said he went to a sex party in a house on Fire Island, a gay beach enclave about two hours from New York City, on June 14 and that out of painfull gay 15 attendees, he and at least six other men now have monkeypox.

Peter said gay men should be vigilant looking for signs of monkeypox on their bodies and those of their sex partners. Many of the men with monkeypox reported having had extraordinarily frustrating experiences, plagued with dead ends and delays, as they sought to get tested for the virus and work with public health officials to provide names of their recent close contacts.

Sexual health for gay and bisexual men

Some saw the clock run out for painfull gay or their partners as they attempted to secure scarce doses of the Jynneos vaccine for monkeypox, which research suggests may prevent symptoms of the disease if given within four days of exposure and at least reduce symptoms if given within five to 14 days.

Using the vaccine in this way is known as post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP. One of these men already has a presumed case of the virus. Rob Short, 29, expressed frustration that he never got a call from public health officials about receiving the vaccine as PEP after he attended a particular gathering in Washington, D.

Getting the vaccine promptly, he said, might have spared him an infection that has sent him into isolation, leaving the personal trainer unable to earn income from teaching group fitness classes. That is the path to containing this virus and keeping it from becoming entrenched.

But we know from many past outbreaks that punitive approaches can backfire, by driving cases underground. Nuzzo stressed that people with monkeypox may need various forms of support, including income and housing support, to help them make it through isolation.