WHO Expert: Monkeypox Likely Spread by Sex at Raves in Spain & Belgium

According to the UN’s public health agency, contact tracing is key in controlling the spread of infectious disease pathogens such as the monkeypox virus, which has quickly spread across North America and Europe since last week. No deaths have been linked to the virus, but more than 200 confirmed and suspected cases have been identified.

Health experts believe that the recent outbreaks of monkeypox in North America and Europe could have ties to sexual acts that recently took place at raves in both Spain and Belgium, according to longtime WHO adviser Dr. David Heymann, who previously led the agency’s emergencies department.

Heymann, on Friday, chaired an urgent WHO advisory group meeting to assess the outbreaks.

“It’s very possible there was somebody who got infected, developed lesions on the genitals, hands or somewhere else, and then spread it to others when there was sexual or close, physical contact,” said Heymann, a professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the Associated Press.

Scotland and Denmark recently joined the ranks of countries with confirmed cases of monkeypox. In both cases, the affected individual has received medical care and the proper health agencies are now performing contact tracing.

As monkeypox has been more commonly found in Central and West Africa in recent years, the current outbreak of the fever and rash-inducing disease has caused panic in areas such as Belgium, where those infected with monkeypox have been ordered to quarantine for 21 days.

“Infected persons will have to go into contact isolation until the injuries have healed (they will receive concrete instructions about this from the treating doctor),” read the announcement, translated from Dutch by CNBC.

At the same time, the US appears to be attempting to pace its response to monkeypox after US President Joe Biden first said “it is something that everybody should be concerned about.”

“We have had this monkeypox in large numbers in the past,” Biden said on Monday, speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Japan. “We have vaccines to take care of it.”

The US is reportedly mulling whether to offer smallpox vaccines to health workers at risk of being exposed to the disease, as the vaccine has been shown to prevent its spread.

As of now, experts do not believe widespread transmission of monkeypox will likely occur.

“This is not COVID,” Heymann stressed to the Associated Press. “We need to slow it down, but it does not spread in the air and we have vaccines to protect against it.”

The WHO expert’s comments come as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the UK’s Health Security Agency have highlighted that a significant concentration of cases have been identified among men who have had sexual contact with other men. Monkeypox cases have not been exclusively identified among men who have sex with men.

“Epidemiological investigations are ongoing, however, reported cases thus far have no established travel links to endemic areas,” the WHO said in a Saturday statement, noting that none of the cases had links to travel from endemic African countries.

Those infected with the rare disease typically experience flu-like symptoms, such as fever, muscle weakness, chills, and exhaustion at the onset. Those initial signs are followed by swelling in the lymph nodes and a widespread rash across one’s face and body, including the palms, soles, and inner mouth.

Infection typically occurs after exposure to broken skin, large respiratory droplets, mucous membranes, infected bodily fluids, and soiled or contaminated bed linens.