In an Oxford University paper, a group of experts postulated that monkeypox is a sexually transmitted disease, after analyzing the 2022 global outbreak/REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

He global breads of monkeypox oh monkeypox is considered a international emergency for the World Health Organization (WHO). According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the agency, “more than 30 countries continue to report case and is concerned about the possible difficulty of finding and diagnostic in many areas, especially those where transmission has already been reported from animals to humans. Now, in addition, a group of scientists of the United States said it was a disease of sexual transmission (STD).

In a statement from the American Society for Infectious Diseases, published in the academic journal of the University of Oxford, in addition to the Library of the United States Institutes of Health (NIH, for its acronyms in English)in which experts studied eight reports published in 17 countries during the 2022 epidemic.

“A growing body of evidence suggests that the sexual transmission it is the predominant mode of transmission of the Mpox virus (monkey pox). Labeling it as a sexually transmitted disease will help target public health interventions, such as vaccinations, tests and treatmentas well as facilitating education and awareness programs focused on behavioral modifications to reduce exposures,” they said.

These conclusions were signed by scientists Lao-Tzu Allan-Blitz, Monica Gandhi, Paul Adamson, Ina Park, Gail Bolan and Jeffrey Klausner. “Our goal was to synthesize the current scientific evidence, detailing the sexual transmission of the disease virus. Between 84% and 100% of Mpox patients report recent sexual activity; and sexual contact has been reported to precede most cases. THE risky sexual practices sexually transmitted infections are common in these patients,” they noted.

According to these scientists, monkeypox viral DNA has been detected in seminal fluid (Europa Press)
According to these scientists, monkeypox viral DNA has been detected in seminal fluid (Europa Press)

To arrive at these results, the researchers analyzed eight reports published in 2022. “During this epidemic, the sexual practices associated with other STDssuch as multiple recent sexual partners, frequenting sex venues, group sex, substance use during intercourse, and receptive anal intercourse without a condom, have been reported with high frequency among Mpox cases,” said they noted.

Second, they noted that monkeypox viral DNA “has been consistently detected in seminal fluid, rectal swabs, and respiratory secretions, as well as in the blood of patients. Additionally, the location of the initial rash correlates with the type of sexual exposure: this rash is frequently localized on the genitals before subsequent clinical dissemination.

In this vein, as described by American experts, “a recent study identified the persistent detection of ‘monkeypox’ DNA for 19 days in the semen of an infected person”. Thus, “there appears to be a temporal and anatomical association between reported sexual activities and disease manifestations.”

In the article, receptive oral intercourse in the days before diagnosis was reported for 95% of patients with monkeypox tonsillitis. “The proportion of cases in which non-sexual transmission was suspected ranged from 1% to 3%, which further supports the almost exclusive sexual spread of the disease,” they elaborated.

Smallpox patients have lesions in different areas of the body.  In general, they advance from the genital areas / Marcelo Regalado
Smallpox patients have lesions in different areas of the body. In general, they advance from the genital areas / Marcelo Regalado

For the authors of the article, this dynamic of transmission “would explain the extremely disproportionate burden of the disease among homosexuals, bisexuals and other men who have sex with men, who constitute between 92% and 100% of reported cases, as well as than the high prevalence of concurrent sexually transmitted diseases in patients with monkeypox during the 2022 outbreak.”

Thus, the association between monkeypox and sexual transmission meets “3 important requirements: strong association, consistency over time, geographical and temporal location”, they concluded.

This Wednesday, February 15, the Director General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced that he had decided to maintain the international emergency for monkeypox (renamed mpox by the organization), despite the decrease in cases worldwide. A committee of experts that met last Friday, February 10, advised the entity to maintain the highest level of alert, so that the measure will continue at least until the next meeting, which could be convened in about three months.

In this context, WHO calls on countries to remain vigilant to the disease and to integrate prevention, preparedness and response services into national programmes, as well as those already established against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. In the current epidemic, 85,000 cases have been recorded in more than a hundred countries. especially in Argentina, According to the latest epidemiological bulletin from the Ministry of Health, 1,091 cases have been confirmed so far. The countries that have reported the most cases so far are the United States (29,974), Brazil (10,808), Spain (7,533), France (4,128) and Colombia (4,074) .

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