Monkeypox Is An STI, This News May Tell Us The Real Rate Of Child Sexual Abuse

Skin to skin contact and infected objects are not driving the outbreak, per a new report from NBC News

Monkeypox is transmitted sexually, per a new report from NBC News, contradicting health agency reports claiming transmission via casual skin-to-skin contact and infected objects are significant drivers of the outbreak.  From NBC News: 

The claim that skin-to-skin contact during sex between men, not intercourse itself, drives most monkeypox transmission is likely backward, a growing group of experts say.

Since the outset of the global monkeypox outbreak in May, public health and infectious disease experts have told the public that the virus is largely transmitting through skin-to-skin contact, in particular during sex between men. 

Now, however, an expanding cadre of experts has come to believe that sex between men itself — both anal as well as oral intercourse — is likely the main driver of global monkeypox transmission. The skin contact that comes with sex, these experts say, is probably much less of a risk factor.

In recent weeks, a growing body of scientific evidence — including a trio of studies published in peer-reviewed journals, as well as reports from national, regional and global health authorities — has suggested that experts may have framed monkeypox’s typical transmission route precisely backward.  

Reconceiving the primary risk factors for transmission is crucial because of how it may affect guidance on reducing the risk of infection, including the question of whether demanding that people with the virus self-isolate has any substantial impact on transmission.

“A growing body of evidence supports that sexual transmission, particularly through seminal fluids, is occurring with the current MPX outbreak,” said Dr. Aniruddha Hazra, medical director of the University of Chicago Sexual Wellness Clinic, referring to monkeypox and to recent studies that found the virus in semen.

Consequently, scientists told NBC News that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health authorities should update their monkeypox communication strategies to more strongly emphasize the centrality of intercourse among gay and bisexual men, who comprise nearly all U.S. cases, to the virus’ spread.

NBC News’ messaging aligns with my recent post on the failure of the CDC to put public health and safety before demonstrations of ideological commitment. NBC’s experts (surprisingly) call for the CDC to revise its own messaging, but it remains doubtful whether any return of the normal preoccupation of institutions with their own stated missions will be seen any time in the near future, for reasons outlined in the same post. We can most likely expect the CDC and other major institutions to double-down on the notion of casual contact driving the monkeypox outbreak, especially as further reports emerge of young children contracting the disease. 

Which sounds almost ridiculous, but consider the responses of quadruple vaxxed and boosted public officials when news broke of their infections with covid. They were more committed to narrative, not less, even though the CDC has now revised its guidance for the vaccinated and unvaccinated to limit differences in response between them.