Understanding the main pathways along which a pathogen spreads is critical for knowing how best to stop it. Even Shigella, a common source of food poisoning, is increasingly recognized as a sexually transmissible bug. The mosquito borne infections Zika and dengue can be sexually transmitted, for example, as can Ebola. Generally speaking, diseases can spread through multiple routes and, in recent years, studies have shown that several infectious diseases can actually spread through sex. Before now, sexual transmission of monkeypox was thought to occur infrequently if at all, according to a report from European health officials. That’s raising concerns that sexual contact could very well be what’s spreading the virus this time, experts said in several interviews. But the monkeypox cases in this most recent outbreak are occurring without evidence of either catalyst. Previous outbreaks of monkeypox have occurred outside of Africa, but normally those cases are associated with travel to the continent or are linked to spillover from infected animals. "Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection in the typical sense, but it can be transmitted during sexual and intimate contact," said Laura Bachmann, chief of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention. And though many of the cases have been identified in sexual health clinics, health officials have cautioned there’s no evidence yet of transmission occurring via seminal or vaginal fluids specifically. Anyone can get monkeypox, but most of the cases associated with this current outbreak have been in men who have sex with men, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The monkeypox strain presently circulating is typically mild and symptoms can resolve on their own, though effective antivirals are also available to treat the illness. "Public health has long been built into the gay community." This public health history dates back to the earliest years of the HIV/AIDS crisis, which disproportionately affected the LGBTQ community and still does to this day.
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"We see ourselves as the connective tissue between groups on the ground, like the European CDC and UK Health Security Agency, and our users," said Jack Harrison-Quintana, the director of Grindr’s advocacy arm, Grindr for Equality. The alerts contained links to verified, up-to-date monkeypox information from public health authorities like the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
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This past weekend, the app sent a pop-up alert in 13 different languages to users in the UK and Europe, where the majority of cases so far have been found. So Grindr has been working to get accurate information about the outbreak to its users. Many of the new cases so far have been linked to men who have sex with men, which suggests the virus may be spreading through sexual networks, experts say. How the quest for a polio vaccine led us to monkeypox Typically, monkeypox is thought to spread via large respiratory droplets, contact with sores or the sharing of things like bed sheets or clothing with someone shedding the virus.