Does it seem like you cannot turn around without hearing news of a new, fearsome disease that health officials say could become another pandemic? If so, it’s because Monkeypox is back in the news.
It is “so back” in the news that readers might be forgiven for wondering if health organizations are enjoying the prospect, so dire and dramatic are the pronouncements coming about a disease that, in reality, is not a major risk for most people. But you wouldn’t know it from the headlines asking if the U.S is ready for a major outbreak.
On Wednesday, August 14, the World Health Organization got the attention and digital front pages of the world’s best known media outlets by proclaiming—yet again—that Monkeypox is a “public health emergency.” From the breathless press coverage, the average person would probably think this means that he or his family are in danger of contracting the pox, but its spread is largely confined to particular populations.
As with many sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, the population with the highest infection rate is men who have sex with other men, a group known to have a very high number of partners. Gay and bisexual men seem aware of this; it was not uncommon to see long lines of men standing outside clinics in major U.S. cities in 2022 waiting for a dose of the vaccine.
Monkeypox is a very unpleasant disease to experience, causing sores, blisters, and lesions that can last for weeks. But the vast majority of otherwise healthy people who contract the pox, which is related to smallpox though much less severe, will recover from the disease on their own or with minimal supportive care. Those most at risk are people with compromised immune systems, which is certainly the case for those who have developed AIDS from the HIV virus.
The disease has now reached Sweden, with that country’s public health agency reporting the first known case of a more severe form of Monkeypox that is usually only seen in Africa. Researchers say the sufferer spent time in Africa in a region known for this more severe strain.
While it is true that 450 Africans recently died in the Democratic Republic of Congo from Monkeypox, this is likely due to the poorer overall health of people living in the third world without access to basic medical care.
In short, those who are not promiscuous have virtually no chance of contracting the disease.
