A WHO monkeypox expert said at least 95% of monkeypox cases spread from sexually active homosexuals.
After declaring monkeypox a global health emergency, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that homosexual males reduce the amount of intercourse they have to help prevent the rapid transmission of the virus.
According to Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s monkeypox expert, at least 95% of monkeypox cases spread from sexually active homosexuals.
“For men who have sex with men, this includes for the moment, reducing your number of sexual partners, reconsidering considering sex with new partners, and exchanging contact details with any new partners to enable follow up if needed,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told CNBC.
Despite the WHO’s recommendation for homosexuals, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has refused to label monkeypox as a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
The director of the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, is attempting to push back on the narrative that monkeypox primarily affects men engaging in homosexual behavior.
“Anyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation can develop and spread monkeypox. Many of those affected by the current global outbreaks identify as gay or bisexual men. However, the current risk of exposure to monkeypox is not exclusive to gay or bisexual men in the United States,” Daskalakis said.
Benjamin Ryan, a Washington Post contributor, bashed the talking point that Daskalakis pushed, saying it “is technically factual, but misleading to the point of misinformation.”
Ryan wrote this in a Washington Post article:
‘Anyone can get monkeypox.’
Countless public health experts have uttered statements such as this in the past two months. Members of the media and politicians have parroted the message ad nauseam without stopping to dissect what it implies or obscures.
This broad-strokes maxim — that everyone on Earth is susceptible to this troubling viral infection — might be factual on its surface. But it is so egregiously misleading it amounts to misinformation.
The journalist encouraged health officials to “focus on which groups of people are most likely to be exposed to a pathogen, to contract it and why.”
Monkeypox has surged in the U.S., with over 2,800 cases being reported in the country over the past two months.
This comes a week after the US House voted to pass legislation that would codify same-sex marriage into law. If the bill is brought to the Senate floor, 10 Republican Senators would have to vote in favor of it for same-sex marriage to be enshrined legally in the U.S.
Currently, 5 GOP Senators have officially said they would vote in favor of the bill, should it be brought to the Senate floor.
Reporting by The National File.
