This happens after the CEO of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesuswill recommend this Wednesday to men who have sex with men that reduce the number of sexual partners and that they reconsider having new contacts sexual. This best way to protect yourself “is to reduce the risk of being exposed” to the disease, explained the director general of the WHO.
For Nahum Cabreracoordinator of the HIV group of FELGTBi+ and president of the Asociación Lanzate LGTBI+ considers these declarations inappropriate: “Talking about prevention is good, but the declarations talk about sex and we must remember that monkeypox it is not a sexually transmitted disease, a condom does not stop it. It is transmitted by close contactwhere sexual contact also enters, of course, but that it is treated in this way surprises us coming from an organization like the WHO“.
For this activist, it is scandalous that international institutions put forward this type of message instead of working to inform, prevent and obtain vaccines. “Limiting sex life is a criterion from another erait would be better if they set the directions and the objectives of the different Member States, which they have not yet done. Spain only has 5300 doses of the vaccine, it looks like a joke,” says Cabrera.
From this same association, they wanted to emphasize that the the vaccine works as a pre-exposure measure, i.e. before direct contact with the infected person. At this stage, it is important to note that contagion occurs through direct and close contact with a person who has symptoms, more specifically through rashes, bodily fluids (fluids, pus or blood from skin lesions) and scabs, which are particularly contagious.
“They should recommend anyone who sees a pustule isolate or that anyone with a new sexual partner traffic policeman and be alert to these types of symptoms, just as would be recommended with someone with measles or other infectious diseases, but don’t blame us, the ghost of the HIV stigmaagain emphasizing the LGTBI+ population, as if we were the precursors to the expansion of a contact disease,” says Cabrera.
This Wednesday the WHO also clarified that “it is very important to remember that once vaccinated, a person takes several weeks to generate an immune response”.
Monkeypox now records more than 18,000 cases worldwidethe 70% in Europe. With a total 3.100 Confirmed cases, Spain tops the list of countries in the world with the most cases.
They are therefore calling for an action plan led by the WHO to put an end to the disease and targeting the entire population. “Recently there was an outbreak in a Tattoo center in San Fernando, Cadiz for not complying with the measures of this type of establishment, that is, it can happen anywhere”, concludes Cabrera.