Why are gay men monkeypox

In fact, for one year of marginal life gained, there was a 15 per cent increase in the odds that participants chose that program. It is true that MPXV can transmit through more casual contact and through fomites inanimate objects on which some microbes can survive, such as bed linens, towels or tables.

From our analyses of this data, we learned a lot about how the public wants public health dollars to be spent and how their knowledge and bias shapes these preferences. In fact, people were least likely to prefer interventions tailored for sexual and gender minorities. Monkeypox virus, or MPXV, is an emerging threat to public health.

A recent study conducted by my team aimed to demonstrate the importance of public health education by asking Canadians to participate in a discrete choice experiment. The World Health Organization recently declared the current outbreak a global public health emergency.

That was until the current outbreak among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. Informing the public about MPXV is important because public opinion plays an important role in shaping public health policies , such as who gets access to vaccines and what interventions are used to stop disease transmission.

People generally preferred programs focused on the general population as opposed to those tailored for key marginalized populations. While these statistics are undisputed, some have feared that identifying sexual behaviour as the primary cause of current MPXV transmission would dampen the public health response.

Descriptions for each hypothetical program identified the number of years of life gained by patients, the health condition it addressed and the population it was tailored for. Regardless of sexual orientation, the main factor of propagation remains the multiplicity of sexual partners.

This may be due to changes in the fundamental transmission dynamic of MPXV or due to enhanced cleaning procedures implemented in response to COVID in places such as gyms and restrooms. However, months into the current outbreak, we have not seen these routes emerge as important pathways of transmission.

We found that people tended to favour interventions that focused on treatment rather than prevention. This study highlights why it is important to educate the public about health inequities. For example, people were more likely to support interventions for sexually transmitted infections when these interventions were tailored for people engaged in sex work or for gay and bisexual men.

A large proportion of monkeypox cases diagnosed in the UK are among gay and bisexual men. Ending MPXV quickly is critical, especially since the virus has the potential to evolve in ways that could make the disease more infectious. We asked participants to choose between two hypothetical public health programs across eight head-to-head comparisons.

People are smarter, more pragmatic, and more compassionate than we give them credit for. However, before last year, most people in Europe and North America had never even heard of the disease. For reference, more than 90 per cent of cases in non-endemic countries have been transmitted through intimate sexual contact, and the vast majority of cases are among gay men.

There were five major takeaways:. For decades, several African countries have experienced ongoing outbreaks of MPXV , driven primarily by contact with animals and transmission within households. Very few cases are linked to community transmission. The bias against behavioural interventions and those tailored for key populations was overcome when the programs addressed a health condition that was widely understood to be linked to the population the program was tailored to.

Monkeypox: Why are gay and bisexual men more affected? While anyone can get monkeypox, the current outbreak is overwhelmingly affecting sexually active gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. Others have warned that connecting MPXV to an already stigmatized community will worsen stigma towards gay sex.

Doctors and public-health experts have spoken to the BBC about the "delicate balance" of keeping those. Understanding why gay men are at higher risk and taking appropriate preventive measures is crucial to controlling the spread of monkeypox and protecting vulnerable populations.

While this approach is emotionally intuitive, large bodies of evidence suggest that it is more cost-effective to prevent disease than to treat it. As the old saying goes: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Read more: Metaphors matter: Why changing the name 'monkeypox' may help curb the discriminatory language used to discuss it.

People generally preferred interventions for common chronic diseases — such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer — and were less likely to favour interventions for behaviour-related conditions , such as sexually transmitted infections. I believe this knowledge will help us end the outbreak before it bridges into other communities.

If we take the time to share evidence with them about the challenges that stigmatized communities face, they will be more willing to support policies and efforts to address these challenges.