Public Health Community Alarmed About New Mpox Variant, No Longer a Gay Virus
Ship quarantined? Kids dying? Airborne transmission? What’s going on?
On August 13, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared Mpox—formerly known as Monkey Pox—to be a public health emergency of continental security, abbreviated PHECS. (1) While there was a period of apprehension about a global outbreak of Mpox in 2022, the current concern is coming from national and international public health agencies, elevating the level of alarm.
And on August 20, Argentina escalated international concern about Mpox by quarantining a Liberian cargo ship on which a crew member had developed “cyst-like lesions.” Argentine authorities took this rather drastic step because a new variant of Mpox, named Clade Ib, spreads more easily than other variants through “routine close contact,” including between heterosexual couples. (2)
Previously, Mpox was considered to be an STD, spreading only during sexual activity and mostly among men who have sex with other men. When the World Health Organization declared Mpox to be a public health emergency on August 14, some “experts” went so far as to suggest that the outbreak “resembles early days of HIV.” (3)
The now-expanding outbreak began in 2022 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since then, Clades I and II have been spreading in the DRC and its neighboring countries. A new offshoot of Clade I, named Clade Ib, appears to be most common and it’s the one “to which children appear particularly vulnerable,” according to the WHO. (3, 4)
Mpox has moved into previously unaffected African countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. (5)
While most press in the US is still trying to make Mpox into a gay sexually transmitted disease, more and more—including the New York Times—are having to admit that it’s not a gay-specific disease. Nevertheless, the smallpox vaccine Jynneos is still recommended for “at risk groups.” (6)
“In the 2022 outbreak, Mpox spread globally mainly among gay and bisexual men. Behavioral changes in that community helped to contain the virus, and vaccination at the time, or now, will help protect them,” Apoorva Mandavilli wrote August 15 in the New York Times. “Until recently, most cases in Congo resulted from consumption of contaminated meat or close contact with infected animals and people. But last year, scientists discovered a new subtype of Mpox, Clade Ib, which appears to spread from person to person primarily through heterosexual transmission.” (6)
In addition to transmission from infected animals and by human skin-to-skin contact, Mpox can also be transmitted by contaminated surfaces and objects. (5)
Mpox can spread between people from one to four days before any symptoms—flu-like symptoms and rash—appear. And according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mpox can also be spread by “prolonged face-to-face interactions (such as talking or breathing).” (7)
But wait—isn’t Mpox a gay disease spread by sex? Didn’t public health officials encourage gay men to line up to get the Jynneos smallpox vaccine in 2022? But now it’s spread by heterosexual sex in Africa? And maybe elsewhere? And, in fact, by “talking or breathing”?
If any of this sounds familiar, you might remember reading about the AIDS epidemic at any time in the last 40 years.
You’d think public health officials would have learned at some point during those four decades that viruses don’t discriminate between gay and straight.
Or maybe it’s a political lesson they’ve yet to learn.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Nicaise Ndembi, Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan, Ngashi Ngongo, Francine Ntoumi, Dimie Ogoina, Maha El Rabbat, et al. “Mpox outbreaks in Africa constitute a public health emergency of continental security.” The Lancet Global Health, August 20, 2024. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00363-2
2. Kat Lay. “Mpox: Argentina quarantines cargo ship over suspected case of virus.” The Guardian, August 14, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/21/mpox-argentina-quarantines-cargo-ship-over-suspected-case-of-virus
3. “Mpox outbreak in Africa is public health emergency, declares WHO: Outbreak resembles early days of HIV, say experts, urging accelerated access to vaccines and testing.” The Guardian, August 14, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/14/mpox-outbreak-africa-public-health-emergency-declares-who
4. “On the frontlines of Congo's deadly mpox outbreak.” Photo essay, Reuters, August 20, 2024. https://www.reuters.com/pictures/frontlines-congos-deadly-mpox-outbreak-2024-08-20/
5. Hayden E. Klein. “WHO Declares Another Mpox Global Emergency—What Americans Should Know.” American Journal of Managed Care, August 20, 2024. https://www.ajmc.com/view/who-declares-another-mpox-global-emergency-what-americans-should-know
6. Apoorva Mandavilli. “How Did Mpox Become a Global Emergency? What’s Next? The virus is evolving, and the newest version spreads more often through heterosexual populations. Sweden reported the first case outside Africa.” New York Times, August 15, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/15/health/mpox-emergency-vaccines-treatments.html
7. “Mpox: How It Spreads.” Updated March 1, 2024. CDC.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/mpox/if-sick/transmission.html
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