Scientists from Italy and Spain have found monkeypox virus in the semen of infected people. But there's growing evidence showing that route is likely. Now it's still unknown if the virus spreads directly through semen.
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And it's often skin with hair follicles, which are also an entry way for the virus." In this way, sexual intercourse is an efficient way to transmit monkeypox, McLellan says: "Because you're grinding skin together a lot. When the lesions rub up against another person's skin or mucous membranes, the virus can be transmitted, especially if the uninfected skin is damaged or broken. Those lesions are filled with infectious virus. Monkeypox causes lesions on the skin or mucous membranes – that's the moist lining inside body cavities, such as your mouth, nose and anus.
In a study of more than 3,900 people infected with monkeypox, the agency found that about 90% of them contracted the disease through a sexual encounter.Īnd when you understand how the disease spreads, the sexual transmission makes sense. This week, the World Health Organization presented data with a similar trend. Lesions in those locations suggest contact in that region and spread through sexual encounters. And more than 70% of the people had lesions on or around their genitals or anus. In 95% of the cases, the person most likely caught the virus through sexual contact. In one study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the Queen Mary University of London analyzed records for about 500 cases of monkeypox in 16 countries during this outbreak. We're detecting cases mostly in individuals from networks with a lot of sexual encounters. "We're not detecting many cases in kids and individuals who aren't sexually active. "Epidemiological data for the outbreak in Western Europe and the United States makes that clear," she says. But she agrees with Osmundson: It is by far the most likely way in this current outbreak, so far. Sexual contact is not the only way monkeypox is spread, points out infectious disease doctor Susan McLellan at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Of course, that includes trans and non-binary folks ," says Joseph Osmundson, a biologist at New York University who identifies as queer and is helping to lead the effort to stop the outbreak. "Right now, about 98% of monkeypox cases are in queer and gay folks and our sexual networks. But multiple lines of evidence indicate that, during this outbreak, the primary way the virus is spreading is through close, physical contact during sex – in particular, sexual encounters among people who have anal sex. Sexual contact is not the only way it is transmitted (we'll discuss the other ways below).
Question 1: Is it accurate to think of monkeypox as a sexually transmitted disease? We're here to debunk a few of those myths - and to explain some recent data about this outbreak, which starts to paint a clearer picture of who urgently needs the vaccine right now and who doesn't.
And there's a lot of conflicting information and guidance. Several myths and misconceptions have cropped up around these questions. On Thursday, the Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency because more aggressive measures are needed to curb the spread of the virus, federal officials said.Īs the outbreak has grown, so too has the confusion about the virus, how it spreads and who is currently at high risk for becoming infected.Ĭan you catch it, say, on a crowded bus or airplane? From trying on clothes in a thrift shop? From a bathroom counter? Is everyone at equal risk? Now that number has jumped to over 7,000 cases. Back in early July, the country had only about 500 cases. The monkeypox outbreak has grown rapidly in the U.S. A person arrives for a monkeypox vaccination at a New York health care center.