Monkeypox threat downplayed as outbreak linked to ‘random’ sexual behaviour
A leading Australian infectious diseases expert has downplayed the threat of a Monkeypox pandemic as the unprecedented outbreak in developed countries was linked to sexual behaviour at two recent raves in Europe.
An adviser to the World Health Organisation on Tuesday said the leading theory to explain the spread of the disease was sexual transmission at raves held in Spain and Belgium.
WHO has recorded more than 90 cases of monkeypox in a dozen countries so far, including Canada, Spain, Israel, France, Switzerland, the US and Australia.
Mater Health Services infectious diseases director Paul Griffin, an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland’s school of medicine, told 6PR Mornings host Liam Bartlett although monkeypox cases are emerging around the world, with two probable ones on our east coast, the outbreak was very different to the Covid pandemic.
“It’s not easily spread, and that’s one of the reassuring things about this virus … you do need direct contact with blood or other bodily fluids to able to be infected,” he told Bartlett.
“It’s not something that transmits through the air or readily like Covid or influenza, so it’s a very different virus and quite difficult to transmit.”
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