The WHO does not say anything else : “Anyone who has close physical contact with any type of other person who has contracted monkeypox is at risk, regardless of identity, activities, people they choose to have sex with, or otherwise. factor.”
More screening
Why, then, do we talk so much regarding the gay community? “In Belgium, we talk more regarding cases in MSM circles (men who have sex with men), because the first cases identified are linked to the Darklands festival in Antwerp (fetish fashion festival, editor’s note). The organization of the festival has communicated on this “, Explain Stephen Barris, coordinator of Exaequo, health partner for men who have sex with men.
But Stephen Barris sees above all another explanation: men who have sex with men are more used to getting tested. “According to a French study, between the moment a homosexual person is infected with HIV and the moment he gets tested, there are two years and 8 months, while among heterosexuals this period is 4 and a half years. It is therefore logical that the cases present within a homosexual community are detected more quickly.
In addition, it is also possible that there were epidemic clusters in a given place, such as at the Parklands festival, adds Doctor Goffard.
Targeted campaign
The Risk Assessment Group (scientific experts who analyze the risk for the population in the event of a threat to public health) has nevertheless decided that it was necessary to launch an awareness campaign aimed at men who have sex with other men, and people with multiple sex partners. “It is important that campaigns are targetedrecognize Jean Francois Cannot, general coordinator of Rainbowhouse Brussels, but the risk is that the population identifies the targets as a source or vector of propagation. You really have to do pedagogy at the same time.”
