You are in danger, gurls!

Well the election is coming. Don't be scared though. I'm in the White House lab working on a cure.

With Pride events scheduled worldwide over the coming weeks, U.S. officials are bracing for a return of mpox, the infectious disease formerly called monkeypox that struck tens of thousands of gay and bisexual men worldwide in 2022. A combination of behavioral changes and vaccination quelled that outbreak, but a majority of those at risk have not yet been immunized.

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of a deadlier version of mpox that is ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo and urged people at risk to be vaccinated as soon as possible. No cases of that subtype have been identified outside Africa so far. But the escalating epidemic in Congo nevertheless poses a global threat, just as infections in Nigeria set off the 2022 outbreak, experts said.

“This is a very important example of how an infection anywhere is potentially an infection everywhere, and why we need to continue to improve disease surveillance globally,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Rimoin has studied mpox in Congo for more than 20 years, and first warned of its potential for global spread in 2010.

The C.D.C. is focusing on encouraging Americans at highest risk to become vaccinated before the virus resurges. The agency’s outreach efforts include engaging with advocacy groups and social media influencers who have broad appeal among the L.G.B.T.Q. community. In December, the agency urged clinicians to remain alert for possible cases in travelers from Congo.

There are two main types of mpox: Clade I, the type that is dominant in Congo, and Clade II, a version of which caused the 2022 global outbreak. (A clade is a genetically and clinically distinct group of viruses.) Both clades have circulated in Africa for decades, sporadically erupting into outbreaks.

People with mpox may have fever, intense headache and back pain, followed by a rash. Many patients also develop painful sores, often at the site of infection. People who have weakened immune systems, including those living with H.I.V., are at highest risk of becoming severely ill and dying.

The version of mpox that caused the 2022 outbreak, called Clade IIb, led to more than 30,000 cases in the United States that year. The epidemic quieted in 2023 with only about 1,700 cases but is now showing signs of a resurgence: The number of cases in the United States this year is nearly double the tally at this time last year.

In Congo, as of April 14, the Clade I virus has led to about 20,000 cases and nearly 1,000 deaths since January 2023. Infection with Clade I has a mortality of roughly 5 percent, compared with less than 0.2 percent for Clade IIb. More than three-quarters of deaths in Congo related to Clade I mpox have been among children under 15.

Even if the deadlier clade were to emerge in the United States, American children would be less likely to be exposed to mpox, and less vulnerable to it, than those in Congo, experts said.

Most cases among children in Congo are thought to result from direct contact with infected animals such as monkeys, prairie dogs, squirrels and shrews, or from eating contaminated bush meat. The children may live in crowded households and be in poor health generally.

ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

The country is troubled by armed conflicts, floods, poverty, malnutrition and multiple infectious diseases, including cholera, measles and polio. “There’s just a difference in living in D.R.C. that probably promotes higher spread among kids,” said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, the deputy director of the Division of High Consequence Pathogens at the C.D.C.

Adult cases in Congo have likewise been attributed to interactions with infected animals or close, sustained contact with infected people. But last year, for the first time, scientists discovered sexual transmission of Clade I mpox among male and female sex workers and their contacts.

In one outbreak in Kamituga, a mining town in Congo, heterosexual prostitution in bars appeared to be the main form of transmission. Genetic analysis showed that, sometime around September, the virus gained mutations, enabling it to spread more readily among people.

This chain of transmission appears to be a second, distinct outbreak in the country, caused by a new version of the virus called Clade Ib, with cases split about equally among young men and women, said Marion Koopmans, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

“I do think there is more than one outbreak ongoing, and it is important to continue to evaluate what that means,” Dr. Koopmans said. “We cannot assume” all forms of mpox behave in the same way, she said. The development has also alarmed scientists because miners and sex workers in the region are transient and may ferry the virus to the neighboring nations of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania.

ADVERTISEMENT SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

In many of these countries, limited access to tests, vaccines and treatments gives the virus ample opportunity to thrive and evolve. A vast majority of mpox cases are diagnosed based on symptoms alone.

Some countries rely on tests that detect only Clade I or only Clade IIb. Those tests may not pick up Clade Ib, the new version that emerged in September, according to a recent study.

That finding prompted the World Health Organization to alert nations to revisit their testing procedures “and make sure they don’t miss a diagnosis,” said Dr. Rosamund Lewis, who leads the W.H.O.’s mpox response.

Oh great, we'll get a resurgence of the same homophobia we saw in 2022. Yawn.

I haven't had sex with another human being since 2003, so bring it, bitches.

Let’s make sure all the right whores get the credit they deserve. That’s right, Johnny D in Florida, we’re talking to you!

Why is it called Mpox and not moneky pox anymore? Are they trying to pretend it's something different?

King Kong was triggered by the name, R10. Seriously:

[quote]Critics say the name "monkeypox" plays into racist stereotypes about Black and African people, and it's been used along with anti-gay slurs. They also note that rodents, not monkeys, are the main source of the virus.

I received two doses of the monkey pox vaccine in summer 2022.

Am I good?

The clinic where I got the vaccine in 2022 was full of gay basic bitches; I'd rather get the virus than sit around with those dweebs again in their little neon tanktops and baseball caps positioned too far back so the bill is sticking up.

They should be calling it the dirty pigs pox.

R10 I think that's just the medical abbreviation for it and, over time, it became mainstream.

It's a bit like how covid was only called coronavirus in the early days. It took a while for "covid" or covid-19" to enter common parlance.

[quote]Mpox is coming, deadlier than ever.

And the DL maiden aunt brigade just loves it.

R10 it’s to make germ riddled whores feel validated.

anyone in the USA have it now?

I did not see it in the above (and thanks for posting) how effective is the vax on both types of Mpox? And how long is the vax effective? I am assuming some level of protection

Let’s hope we are not dealing with the one currently seen in the Congo.

Effective for both Clades.

Get vaccinated boys.

“expected to be effective against both types”

R20 from your link.

R7

The homophobia will not be an issue unless a gay related epidemic or outbreak starts to infect the vast majority who are not gay men.

So glad I'm too old and ugly to have sex. Pass the Oreos.

i'm vaxed, waxed and chilled to the max

R20/ElderLez, is the vaccine we all got in 2022 enough protection against whatever is now coming this way?

According to the CDC communication it’s just the two shots needed. Good for everyone who protected themselves and their partners in 2022.

Thanks, ElderLez!

My pleasure. FYI in case you want to listen.

I assume the vax and treatments will work on both types of Mpox. CDC “thinks’ that is the case. So it most likely is, So far the evidence is good.

But the words being used in the links provided are “expected’ and “should’ be effective

Clearly CDC is seeing something once again they had not dealt with before. The Congo deadlier version has never before been seen as a sexually transmitted disease. And never before seen in these numbers,

Run for your lives, whores of all shapes and sizes...

With cases of mpox now spreading to infants as young as two weeks old, Africa’s leading health agency has declared a health emergency on the continent, warning that the potentially fatal virus is rapidly crossing borders and becoming a global threat.

About 15,000 cases of mpox – formerly known as monkey pox – have been recorded in Africa this year, including more than 2,000 cases in the past week alone. More than 460 people have died this year from the virus, which is transmitted by close contact, causing fever, rashes, lesions, headaches and fatigue.

Cases are also rising in Canada, with Toronto announcing on Tuesday that 93 mpox cases were confirmed in the city by the end of last month, compared with 21 cases in the same period last year. City authorities urged high-risk people to get vaccinated.

In Africa, mpox cases have surged by 160 per cent this year, compared with the same period last year. Most cases are a dangerous new variant, with a higher death rate than in an earlier outbreak in 2022. The fatality rate is now estimated at 3 to 4 per cent, far higher than in previous outbreaks.

Sexual tourism?

What happens in the baths and the parks stays in the community (or not)

Tell me about it, r31.

The horror the horror

The horror would be this taking hold in the gay community in the US and then crossing over to threaten the 97%.

So far we have been lucky. The tiny % just can’t be seen as a threat to the much larger %.

(For R35)