Why are gay people getting monkey pox more

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This epidemic differs from the waves observed so far in a dozen African countries, notably in the patients' profile: almost exclusively men, most of them males who have sex with males, known as "MSM" in the scientific community. The question is why MSM are overrepresented among the affected.

First, it is important to keep in mind that the SPF figures are still incomplete. Screening is just starting and complicated by the fact that symptoms are nonspecific. In addition to the symptoms usually reported in endemic areas, some patients suffer from new conditions such as angina or rectitis inflammation of the rectal mucosa.

According to emerging viruses specialist Yannick Simonin, anyone who has close physical contact with another person who has contracted monkeypox is at risk, regardless of their sexual orientation. Monkeypox is transmitted by direct contact, including through mucous membranes and skin lesions or by contact with contaminated surfaces or objects.

It can also be transmitted by respiratory droplets, at short distances and during prolonged face-to-face exposure. Yannick Simonin, a virologist and lecturer specializing in emerging viruses at the University of Montpellier. He called for "not stigmatizing the homosexual community.

Monkeypox does not only concern this community, even though cases are currently over-represented in it. Simonin said. The outbreaks in Spain and Belgium could thus be at the origin of the very rapid spread of the virus within the gay community. A hundred positive cases were detected after the Gay Pride Festival at the Yumbo de Maspalomas, in the Canary Islands, while another outbreak occurred at why are gay people getting monkey pox more same time at the Darklands Festival, in Belgium, in early May.

However, monkeypox was already circulating before these events. While patient zero is unknown, Spanish health authorities discovered symptomatic cases in Madrid as early as April, according to the national daily El Pais. Beyond the high risk of contamination attributed to close contact, the scientific community is closely monitoring the possible evolution of the virus into a sexually transmitted infection STI.

Studies conducted in Italy and Germany have shown the presence of the virus in the seminal fluid of some patients, although scientists have not established its infectious nature. According to Dr. Simonin, "an STI is a disease that is transmitted during sexual intercourse and does not necessarily involve the presence of virus in sexual secretions.

The current hypothesis is that the transmission of this virus during sexual intercourse is largely carried out at the level of mucosal lesions, in particular at the level of the anogenital region. Condom use alone is not sufficient, which distinguishes, among other factors, monkeypox from STIs.

Davido added, "these lesions are contagious and infectious. There have probably been mutations in the virus that have changed the transmission chains. It is therefore not out of the question that this virus becomes an STI. Sequencing of the virus' genome, six times longer than that of SARS-CoV-2, should make it possible to confirm an evolution in transmission modes, as indicated in this article published in the journal Nature.

Simonin nevertheless said that "it is also very likely that this mode of transmission has been largely underestimated in areas where this virus is endemic, and quite understudied.