#monkeypox

[saywhat-politics]

[theculturedmarxist]

[apas-95]

On June 13, a man in New York began to feel ill.

"He starts to experience swollen lymph nodes and rectal discomfort," says epidemiologist Keletso Makofane, who's at Harvard University.

The man suspects he might have monkeypox. He's a scientist, and knowledgeable about the signs and symptoms, Makofane says. So the man goes to his doctor and asks for a monkeypox test. The doctor decides, instead, to test the man for common sexually transmitted diseases. All those come back negative.

"A few days later, the pain worsens," Makofane says. So he goes to the urgent care and again asks for a monkeypox test. This time, the provider prescribes him antibiotics for a bacterial infection.

"The pain becomes so bad, and starts to interfere with his sleep," Makofane says. "So this past Sunday, he goes to the emergency room of a big academic hospital in New York."

At this point the man has a growth inside his rectum, which is a symptom of monkeypox. At the hospital, he sees both an ER doctor and an infectious disease specialist. Again, the man asks for a monkeypox test. But the specialist rebuffs the request and says "a monkeypox test isn't indicated," Makofane says. Instead, the doctor speculates that the man might have colon cancer.

A few days later, he develops skin lesions — another key sign of monkeypox.

Eventually, after seeing more than four doctors, the man finally finds an activist who's trying to expand testing. The activist connects the man with a doctor who orders a test through a private company (that's working to produce a commercial test.) The result: He's positive. He has monkeypox. [...]

But as the need for testing grew — and the disease became more common than officials initially predicted — the testing system set up by the CDC stopped functioning well, because it actually deters doctors from ordering a monkeypox test.

Providers have to go out of their way to order a test. They have to receive permission and instructions from local or state labs, Nuzzo says. The process is cumbersome and often time-consuming. Sometimes a doctor has to sit on the phone for hours.

[ruinedchildhood]

[drethelin]

Monkeypox is spreading, if you had any plans to attend an orgy in the next couple months maybe postpone it

[yuri-alexseygaybitch]

Hey you know who aren't being homophobic weirdos about monkeypox? The Chinese CDC

[sarcasticsabreur]

The CDC per capita map of monkeypox cases literally defines ‘per capita’ as the population of men living with HIV or using PrEP??? This is what I mean when I say they’re making it AIDS 2.0. Literally what the fuck

[newsfromstolenland]

I read an headline where apparently Dave Chapelle said some homophobic nonesense about monkeypox and gay people. It’s like when people dehumanized queer people during the Aids crisis, it’s happening all over again.

I have so much anger over how monkeypox is being handled, and I'm gonna turn this into an educational opportunity

first of all, it's not a sexually transmitted infection. it just isn't. it causes lesions and scabs that can present anywhere on a person's body, and spreads through contact with said lesions and scabs. it can also spread through respiratory particles, and body fluid contact. which yes, includes semen, but also includes blood and saliva. however, it can spread through anyone's semen, not just gay men. (edit: my phrasing implies that it always causes lesions and scabs which is not the case, here is a list of symptoms)

now that we've disproved that, let's talk about why it is being talked about as a "gay disease". the testing standards in the states only apply to those who have had direct contact with an infected person, and men who have sex with other men. if most of the people you test are gbt+ men, most of the cases you find will be gbt+ men. it skews the statistics.

now onto why this misinformation is so dangerous. the association of a disease or infection with a marginalized group always leads to hate crimes against said group. we saw this during the AIDS crisis against lgbt+ people, and with ebola against black people, and again with COVID against asian people who were perceived as chinese (the latter example is ongoing). people are going to get hurt. people are going to die. I can't understate how much this is going to lead to a spike in homophobic hate crimes.

and if we learned anything from the AIDS crisis, it's that the medical system has no problem denying care to marginalized groups, especially for something that is heavily associated with said groups.

lastly, there is a monkeypox vaccine! research sites near you and go get it as soon as you can.

TLDR: monkeypox is not a "gay disease", it is not an STI/STD, and the framing of it from governments and the media is going to lead to hate crimes. also, get vaccinated against it.

[quixoticanarchy]

the us govt: yes the covid response was flawed, and tragically, many mistakes were made. however we are confident that critical lessons have been learned so that we can emerge from this stronger and better prepared for the next pandemic —

monkeypox: *has entered the chat*

[politijohn]

July 15, 2022 // source

I will continue amplifying voices like this re: the latest public health crisis, monkeypox, because the media isn’t. I’m not about to watch the LGBTQ community be victimized by our system’s incompetence or be villainized by the Right if this spreads further and we’re then blamed as we were for HIV/AIDS.

I hope you’ll help me spread the word.

[arctic-hands]

This has not been a great era to be immunocompromised in

[mysharona1987]

[ireton]

WARNING  - ROUGH LANGUAGE - EXPLICIT - WILL BE OFFENSIVE TO SOME VIEWERS

ER Nurse goes over the CDC instructions for sex during the Monkeypox outbreak.