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UN confirms sexual spread of mpox in Congo for the 1st time as country sees a record outbreak

The World Health Organization said it has confirmed sexual transmission of mpox in Congo for the first time as the country experiences its biggest-ever outbreak, a worrying development that African scientists warn could make it more difficult to stop the disease.

In a statement issued late Thursday, the U.N. health agency said a resident of Belgium traveled to Congo in March and tested positive for mpox, or monkeypox, shortly afterward. WHO said the individual “identified himself as a man who has sexual relations with other men” and that he had gone to several underground clubs for gay and bisexual men.

Among his sexual contacts, five later tested positive for mpox, WHO said.

“This is the first definitive proof of sexual transmission of monkeypox in Africa,” Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups, said. “The idea that this kind of transmission could not be happening here has now been debunked.”

nicetriangle ,

I thought any close contact was thought to spread this, so I'm kind of failing to understand why it's news at all that it's spreading through sexual contact.

Ranvier ,

That’s true, it just spreads by skin to skin contact, and obviously there’s a lot of skin to skin contact during sex: reuters.com/…/factcheck-health-monkeypox-idUSL2N2…

I guess maybe the article is highlighting that the laws criminalizing gay people in Africa may make the sexual mode of transmission tougher to address and track in the case of gay people there. But it does continue to play into the false notion that it’s a disease that only affects gay people.

Stovetop , (edited )

I can imagine how awful it must be for those in Congo who contract this disease, given how strongly it is associated with male-to-male transmission during sex and Congo not being nearly as accepting of gay people as other countries. A lot of people are probably going to end up suffering in silence because of widespread bigotry. Or that’s probably how the bigots want it, at least.

autotldr Bot ,

This is the best summary I could come up with:

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization said it has confirmed sexual transmission of mpox in Congo for the first time as the country experiences its biggest-ever outbreak, a worrying development that African scientists warn could make it more difficult to stop the disease.

In a statement issued late Thursday, the U.N. health agency said a resident of Belgium traveled to Congo in March and tested positive for mpox, or monkeypox, shortly afterward.

“This is the first definitive proof of sexual transmission of monkeypox in Africa,” Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups, said.

WHO added that the mpox outbreak this year in Congo, which has infected more than 12,500 people and killed about 580, also marked the first time the disease has been identified in the capital of Kinshasa and in the conflict-ridden province of South Kivu.

WHO said the risk of mpox spreading to other countries in Africa and globally “appears to be significant,” adding that there could be “potentially more severe consequences” than the worldwide epidemic last year.

Tomori lamented that while the mpox outbreaks in Europe and North America prompted mass immunization campaigns among affected populations, no such plans were being proposed for Africa.

The original article contains 591 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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