MONKEYPOX! Everything you need to know about W.H.O’s newest public health emergency

SANDY: After months of speculation, the World Health Organization has declared Monkeypox an international public health emergency. WHO Director General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, doctor of philosophy, has had enough, making the declaration despite failing to gain consensus from his own committees. The new health emergency comes as a relief for many INNformation anxious about living life without a looming crisis, as health officials around the world use new fear campaigns to drive widespread uptake of some old vaccines.

Christinea Soleitch reports on all the crucial Monkeypox news you need, including how it is transmitted, and ways you can avoid using the word Monkey.

“New Monkeypox brand names being considered include MPX, MPXV, MXPX, Mpox, or the hotly favoured, M-people.”

SOLEITCH: Monkeypox has been known about since 1958 and is endemic in some big countries, like Africa. The viral infection is typified by fever, rash and blisters lasting 2 to 4 weeks, and has recently spread with alarming pace around the world, stealing attention from Covid, making the monkeypox problem problematic. It’s so problematic that the W.H.O are working around the clock to address all the important issues, like re-branding the virus to omit the word monkey, which can be attached to problematic stigma and offence. New brand names being considered include MPX, MPXV, MXPX, Mpox, or the hotly favoured, M-people. After mysteriously appearing in London around May, the virus rapidly spread almost exclusively in men who have sex with men between June and August, coincidently at the same time these 166 US and International Pride Festivals were held. Thankfully, health departments around the world unanimously decided against enforcing restrictions on Pride events during the outbreak, which went ahead uninterrupted. Monkeypox is spread via close contact through respiratory secretions like mucus and saliva, and contact with skin, clothing, bedding or other objects. This clearly puts men at much higher risk of infection than any of the other genders, as well as black and hispanic people, who are also disproportionately affected, according to the US Centre for Disease Control.

What is also clear is that vaccines are the answer. Luckily for men who have sex with men, governments have started rolling out 3 different smallpox vaccines, thought to be up to 85% effective against Monkeypox. And while there is little to no data to back this up, the word pox is very easy to see on the side of the bottle. And men are lining up in droves to get it, a huge relief to progressive politicians breathlessly promoting Pride festivals, who can safely shirk responsibility and reserve shutdowns for more conservative types who are not INNformation. Christinea Soleitch, INN News.