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WHO declares highest alert over monkeypox

AHA-Lambda

AHA-Lambda

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,797
www.bbc.co.uk

Monkeypox: WHO declares highest alert over outbreak

More than 16,000 cases have been reported from 75 countries, the organisation says.
www.bbc.co.uk
Monkeypox declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization following a surge in cases
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Seems to be breaking. Not much more info than the breadline and the quote so far

Lock if old

Edit: more details from Guardian UK

www.theguardian.com

Monkeypox declared global health emergency by WHO as cases surge

Declaration is strongest call to action agency can make, with most recent such announcement being for Covid
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Declaration is strongest call to action agency can make, with most recent such announcement being for Covid

The global monkeypox outbreak has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) – the strongest call to action the agency can make.

It is the seventh time such a declaration has been made since 2009, the most recent being for Covid-19, which was given the same label by the WHO in 2020, and follows a meeting of a committee of experts on Thursday.

Monkeypox is a viral infection typically found in animals in central and western Africa, although it can cause outbreaks in humans. While cases are occasionally identified in countries where the virus is not endemic, the latest outbreak has been unprecedented.

While countries in Europe have been hardest hit, cases have also been reported in the US, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Israel, Brazil and Mexico among others.

The WHO said the outbreak was largely among men who have sex with men who had reported having sex recently with new or multiple partners. However, experts have stressed that anyone can get monkeypox as it is spread by close or intimate contact, with the UN having warned that some media portrayals of Africans and LGBTQ+ people "reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbate stigma".

More details soon …
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entremet

entremet

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge
Member
Oct 26, 2017
59,991
There is a vaccine for this. The issue is scaling it.
 
Sai

Sai

Prophet of Truth
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
5,603
Chicago
Maybe now governments will actually take it seriously and do something about it? We literally have a vaccine and like a huge stockpile of them, there's no reason people should be scrambling for them.
 
suedester

suedester

Member
Oct 25, 2017
815
Sai said:
Maybe now governments will actually take it seriously and do something about it? We literally have a vaccine and like a huge stockpile of them, there's no reason people should be scrambling for them.
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It's a risk benefit analysis. 5 deaths from 16000 cases suggests an expensive vaccine programme probably isn't worth it.
 
Biestmann

Biestmann

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,412
Annubis said:
« Could everyone please stop having sex? »
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giphy.gif
 
Rizific

Rizific

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,948
There's been confirmed cases in my county and surrounding counties in Central California 🤷
 
Green

Green

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,410
"The chances of two pandemics at once was a million to one!", he said.

"The chances of two pandemics at once was a million to one. But still, it comes."
 
OnionPowder

OnionPowder

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,323
Orlando, FL
Cosmic Bus said:
The initial messaging [in the US] that this was a "gay" virus obviously didn't do it any favors. Maybe now that kids are starting to contract it will light a fire under their asses.

www.cbsnews.com

U.S. confirms first two cases of monkeypox in children — one case is in California

One case is in an infant who is a California resident and another is in a toddler who is not a U.S. resident, the CDC said.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com
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Actually, because of the US'es callback to AIDs and blaming it on the LGBTQ community, reactionaries are blaming child cases on LGBTQ people as well. Amazing reaction from the US as always.
 
Hero_of_the_Day

Hero_of_the_Day

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
17,327
peppermints said:
This one seems easier to contain yeah? Given its transmission method?
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If they are right about the way it is being transmitted. The WHO lagged way behind everyone else in admitting that covid was airborne. Not to say that monkeypox is clearly airborne. I obviously have no fucking clue. But, something is making it more transmissible, clearly.
 
Vash

Vash

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,777
obin_gam said:
it is spread by close or intimate contact,

Since I'm married then it means I'm completly safe from it, woho!!
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It does not mean that. You can accidentally brush against someone's arm who may or may not know they have it and can spread it. The general portrayal in the media of it only circling within (mostly male) gay communities has been outdated for a while now because of that.
 

Majora85

Member
Nov 21, 2017
1,105
This has become a real problem in the London gay community. Sexual health clinics can't cope because the volume of Monkeypox cases is draining their resources and the UK just doesn't have enough vaccines even just to go around the group most at risk at the moment (gay men).

Luckily I just got an invitation for a vaccine today via text message but essentially if you're having sex as a gay man in London at the moment you're playing with fire because it's not even about unprotected sex but simply close bodily contact.
 
Tochtli79

Tochtli79

Member
Jun 27, 2019
5,777
Mexico City
Fuck's sake. Just bring on the meteors and put us out of our misery.

The messaging with this has been really lacking. But my understanding (based on reporting, see CDC below) is it can also be spread by close physical contact that's non sexual, ie saliva particles... Fucking exhausting.
www.cdc.gov

Monkeypox in the U.S.

Learn more about monkeypox in the United States.
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov
 
Neonvisions

Neonvisions

Member
Oct 27, 2017
518
I guess I don't understand why it's effecting the gay community so much? If it's caused by close contact, why not every group equally?
 
Serene

Serene

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
52,522
two things very important to take away:

- this is not "the next COVID", and by all accounts won't be due to (among many factors) means of transmission, available treatment, lower mortality rate

- this still should be taken seriously and if we can scale a vaccine program it should 100% be done
 
Biestmann

Biestmann

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,412
ghostemoji said:
Isn't that how developing situations work? It can be no cause for worry last week and have had the risk increase in the interim period.
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However, going from "no cause to worry" to highest(!) alert level is quite the jump within the span of one week of their reports. Just makes it seem like they underestimated the situation in the past few weeks running up to now.
 
Annubis

Annubis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,656
Bishop89 said:
I think I've asked this before but can't remember. Is monkeypox fatal?
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There're are multiple 'strains' of it from what was written about it before.
The one going around right now is not very deadly (very rarely) but there are far more dangerous strains (none of the new cases outside of where it is usually found are from those).
 

Deleted member 8257

Oct 26, 2017
24,586
Tochtli79 said:
Fuck's sake. Just bring on the meteors and put us out of our misery.

The messaging with this has been really lacking. But my understanding (based on reporting, see CDC below) is it can also be spread by close physical contact that's non sexual, ie saliva particles... Fucking exhausting.
www.cdc.gov

Monkeypox in the U.S.

Learn more about monkeypox in the United States.
www.cdc.gov www.cdc.gov
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  • direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs, or body fluids
  • respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact, such as kissing, cuddling, or sex
  • touching items (such as clothing or linens) that previously touched the infectious rash or body fluids
  • pregnant people can spread the virus to their fetus through the placenta
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So it looks like it mostly spreads from close quarters? They do not mention that it can spread in air particles like COVID via coughing, sneezing etc. Also looks like it wont be transmissible by merely touching objects, unless that object came in direct contact with rash?

Yeah you're right the message is confusing. They should tell people clearly what to do in order to avoid it. Oh well, I have been back to masking and being a hand sanitizer fiend since BA.5 popped up so hopefully that's enough.
 
Ze_Shoopuf

Ze_Shoopuf

Member
Jun 12, 2018
3,932
Any country that has a culture of kissing someone goodbye or hello on the cheeks could spread more easily?

Doesn't have to be gay guys.

Also what about having communion at church? Isn't there touching during that?
 
Grunty

Grunty

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,337
Gruntilda’s Lair
Better to get vaccinated now if possible than waiting until later just in case. And is there also a possibility of this thing mutating as well like Covid continues to do?
 
CDX

CDX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,476
Since the smallpox vaccine is effective against it, we've had effective vaccines since before it was even an outbreak. Now it may be necessary to start mass producing and administrating those vaccines.
 
Vash

Vash

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,777
CDX said:
Since the smallpox vaccine is effective against it, we've had effective vaccines since before it was even an outbreak. Now it may be necessary to start mass producing and administrating those vaccines.
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Indeed. Since a lot of, if not all, countries stopped vaccinating for (regular) smallpox during the end of the 70s/early 80s, many (young) people have a bigger risk of getting monkeypox now. If we had kept those vaccinations going as some scientists said we should have done do back then, and not immediately quit after smallpox was "eradicated", we wouldn't be in this mess right now.
 
Royalan

Royalan

I can say DEI; you can't.
Moderator
Oct 24, 2017
11,931
Just got the vaccine for this on Tuesday and, yeah, it's definitely being treated like a "Gay Thing." Which...why are we still doing this?

(ALSO, I've gotten the COVID vaccine 4 times now, only the first shot really gave me symptoms....THIS ONE!? Oi, take off work the next day if you can)
 

swf541

Member
Oct 30, 2020
157
The vaccine afaik also has a risk of having a rather extreme complication with those with eczema and some other stuff or coming into contact with those who recently got said vaccine. I really dont get why the WHO declared this given the extremely low fatality and this not being all that easily transmittable.
 
Royalan

Royalan

I can say DEI; you can't.
Moderator
Oct 24, 2017
11,931
swf541 said:
The vaccine afaik also has a risk of having a rather extreme complication with those with eczema and some other stuff or coming into contact with those who recently got said vaccine. I really dont get why the WHO declared this given the extremely low fatality and this not being all that easily transmittable.
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Because people are fucking.

I got pinged for this shot because the number of cases in my city, while low (only in the double digits), nevertheless doubled over a single weekend.

Better safe than sorry.
 

swf541

Member
Oct 30, 2020
157
Royalan said:
Because people are fucking.

I got pinged for this shot because the number of cases in my city, while low (only in the double digits), nevertheless doubled over a single weekend.

Better safe than sorry.
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Fair enough, I just dont want (with at least the live vaccine) to have to go into lockdown bcs of people getting vaccinated.
 

gerg

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,343
Vash said:
It does not mean that. You can accidentally brush against someone's arm who may or may not know they have it and can spread it. The general portrayal in the media of it only circling within (mostly male) gay communities has been outdated for a while now because of that.
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I would disagree, simply because the statistics continue to back up the assertion that infection is happening more or less exclusively among MSM (men who have sex with men). Benjamin Ryan is a good individual to follow regarding this for a variety of different statistics, but this is just one example: https://mobile.twitter.com/benryanwriter/status/1550224127923048448

[Edit: Here is another thread featuring UK data, again showing how the vast majority of cases are in the MSM community: https://mobile.twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/1550633203077103616]

Further stigmatisation of the MSM community would be an unacceptable consequence of a focus on highlighting the risk of monkeypox infection to those individuals in it, but at the same time there is no benefit in causing unnecessary alarm and a strain on limited resources by encouraging people to think that they are at risk when they most likely are not - I don't think that a heterosexual woman in a committed monogamous relationship (or perhaps even gay men in committed monogamous relationships) should be rushing out to get monkeypox vaccines, for example. Equally, you risk underserving the community most at risk of infection with confusing messaging that minimises the activities that currently correlate the most with the spread of the disease (being a man with mutliple same-sex sexual partners, for example), if they do not realise that their behaviour puts them at a greater risk.
 
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Thordinson

Thordinson

Member
Aug 1, 2018
17,909
gerg said:
Further stigmatisation of the MSM community would be an unacceptable consequence of a focus on highlighting the risk of monkeypox infection to those individuals in it.
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The problem is that it's not really a consequence, it's deliberate. The media is purposefully making it the next "gay panic"

Look how the CDC talks about it and how it's reported:

"Both of those children are traced back to individuals who come from the men-who-have-sex-with-men community, the gay men's community," Walensky said at a virtual event with the Washington Post on Friday.
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Reporting it like this just increases the "groomer" anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that is becoming more widespread.
 
EntelechyFuff

EntelechyFuff

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Nov 19, 2019
10,139
Antrax said:
I'm full-on Emperor's New Groove with plagues now
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You turned into an alpaca?

Thordinson said:
The problem is that it's not really a consequence, it's deliberate. The media is purposefully making it the next "gay panic"

Look how the CDC talks about it and how it's reported:



Reporting it like this just increases the "groomer" anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that is becoming more widespread.
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What would be your preference on how to factually report on such matters? Members of a high risk community (for any disease) deserve to know they are at a higher risk.

People who have children also deserve the best information about the transmission context to children who have tested positive. I don't see "groomer" here. My immediate assumption was "gay man with children"…chances are if a parent contracts a disease spread by close contact, the kids are getting it too.

Preventing stigmatization is extremely important. Dropping adjectives from these reports makes them of no use for anyone, on the other hand.
 
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GasProblem

GasProblem

Prophet of Truth
Member
Nov 18, 2017
3,148
swf541 said:
The vaccine afaik also has a risk of having a rather extreme complication with those with eczema and some other stuff or coming into contact with those who recently got said vaccine. I really dont get why the WHO declared this given the extremely low fatality and this not being all that easily transmittable.
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Uh, read about eczema vaccinatum and that's a scary side effect of the vaccine. As a gay guy with a history of eczema I should avoid vaccinated people?
 
Nothing Loud

Nothing Loud

Literally Cinderella
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,975
My LGBTQ friends here in Seattle are all driving up to Vancouver to get our vaccines, the clinics there are handing them out if you're MSM/LGBTQ and I got a vaccine appointment for myself. I hook up with other men occasionally and there's been outbreaks at my locales here in Seattle so it's time to get the vaccine for myself.
 
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