New York monkeypox outbreak risks creating world’s newest sexually transmitted disease

As thousands face long vaccine lines in a New York heatwave, experts fear the emergence of an endemic new STD if monkeypox can’t be contained.

In sweltering temperatures in New York about 30 people, mostly young men, lined up at Bronx High School of Science at 75 W. 205th Street to get the monkeypox vaccine.

The US’s most densely populated city is the epicentre of the monkeypox outbreak in the country. For two weeks lines have been forming outside pop up vaccination clinics in scenes reminiscent of the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Appointments for 17,000 new doses booked out in under 30 minutes as the city approached its 1000th case, according to the New York State Department of Health.

As of Friday afternoon the CDC had reported almost 3,000 cases in the US.

Experts now fear if the spread is not contained and becomes endemic to the US, the world could be witnessing the birth of its newest sexually transmitted disease (STD), joining HIV, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis.

A long line outside Bronx High School of Science, a pop up vaccination centre for the monkeypox virus. Picture: Supplied

A long line outside Bronx High School of Science, a pop up vaccination centre for the monkeypox virus. Picture: Supplied

A young man heading into the temporary vaccination centre in the Bronx, a diverse borough in the city, told News Corp Australia he was there to get the monkeypox vaccine as soon as possible.

He would not give his name citing privacy reasons but said that while he didn’t have “many sexual partners,” he was getting the vaccine as a precaution to protect himself and those he came in contact with.

He believed the virus would soon spread into the wider community and getting the vaccine now had been quick for him.

“I messaged a friend and said I missed the [online] appointment blocks on Friday but I called and they had appointments available. And he said, ‘I got one when they first came because I knew it was going to be a mess’ … I called yesterday and got an appointment for today,” he said.

The man, who lives in the area, said his friends and family had mostly been oblivious to the outbreak’s severity.

“I was out with a friend last night from Texas and he said, ‘Monkeypox, what’s that?’ So I think that there are a lot of people who are still unaware.”

People wait in line to receive the monkeypox vaccine before the opening of a new mass vaccination site at the Bushwick Education Campus in Brooklyn. Picture: AFP

Anyone can catch monkeypox, which spreads through close physical contact, but men who have sex with men currently make up the vast majority of cases – as high as 98 per cent according to WHO.

Ninety-five per cent of cases have been transmitted through sexual activity, according to a study of 528 people in 16 countries published in the New England Journal of Medicine – the largest research to date.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has previously expressed concern that stigma and scapegoating could make the outbreak harder to track.

And while LGBT activists have tried to fight the perception that monkeypox is an STD, even calling on the CDC to rename the disease to help remove stigma, concerns are growing in the US that the dominant mode of transmission – intimacy – will hamper efforts to contain the virus.

Dr Roy Zucker, director of the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre and its LGBTQ health services said that whether or not monkeypox could be designated as an STD is a “great question.”

“We know from past data that the virus can be spread by being in the presence of someone who is infected for a long time – say for three hours at a distance of two metres or so, or by simply coming into physical contact with them,” Dr Zucker said.

“But what we’re seeing across the world and in Israel is that most of the patients were infected via sexual activity. The WHO also said the same, that it appears as though this disease is transmitted sexually and so we can begin to refer to it as another STD.”

People protest during a rally calling for more government action to combat the spread of monkeypox in New York City. Picture: AFP

But in the early days of the AIDS epidemic gay men were scapegoats for a disease that also affected other high risk groups in non-sexual activities such as intravenous drug users, women, the incarcerated, as well as people contracting HIV through surgery or trauma.

However, public perception echoes the belief that monkeypox is an STD. Juan, an Uber driver nearby to the Bronx monkeypox vaccination centre said that he had heard of the virus but would not be getting the vaccine.

“It’s only you and somebody together for maybe 24 hours and maybe this is the problem,” he said. “But if you don’t touch anybody there is no problem.”

But while monkeypox spreads mainly through skin-to-skin contact, it can also be transmitted through linens used by someone with monkeypox.

As monkeypox cases have risen in New York City people have protested for better vaccine access. Picture: AFP

And although it’s been entering populations like a sexually transmitted disease, officials are on the lookout for other types of contagion that could fuel community spread.

Officials said they were aware of two children with monkeypox in the US, and at least eight women.

Monkeypox is characterised by blisters and rashes on the skin which can appear on the limbs, face, genitalia and even internally, causing lesions. These are accompanied by fever, sore throat, fatigue, and pain in the lymph nodes. While the virus usually goes away on its own after several days it can be extremely painful and cause scarring.

It comes as the White House said on Sunday it was confident authorities could “eliminate” monkeypox from the United States by speeding up the rollout of vaccinations and treatment to combat the virus’s spread.

Kyle Planck, 26, who has recovered from monkeypox, shows scars from rashes on his skin during an interview in New York. Picture: AFP

Kyle Planck, 26, who has recovered from monkeypox, said “I don't want anyone to have to go through what I went through” and said the virus gave him “the worst pain of my life” despite treatment.

“I think monkeypox can be contained, absolutely,” doctor Ashish Jha, the White House coronavirus response co-ordinator, told CBS News talk show “Face the Nation.”

“We have acted swiftly,” Mr Jha said, contradicting the perception that Joe Biden’s administration had been slow in its response to the new outbreak.

The New York Times reported last week that many gay, bisexual, and transgender men and women had encountered delays, detours, confusing public messaging, and even misdiagnoses when seeking treatment for symptoms they felt sure were monkeypox.

People protest during a rally calling for more government action to combat the spread of monkeypox. Picture: AFP

Mr Jha said Mr Biden’s administration was caught off-guard when the first cases began appearing in US states more than two months ago. He acknowledged that the virus is spreading largely in the gay male community, but stressed that “there are other people who are at risk as well,” particularly those who are in close personal contact with people who are infected.

But he said Washington has undertaken a “very substantial” ramp-up of its response, including the recent acquisition of approximately 800,000 vaccine doses from Denmark.

“The plan is to eliminate this virus from the United States. I think we can do that,” Mr Jha said.

The World Health Organisation has declared the monkeypox outbreak an international public health emergency, the highest alarm it can sound, with almost 20,000 cases in 74 countries, especially in Europe where summer Prides and rave parties seem to have fuelled community transmission.

An employee of the GGD Haaglanden prepares the equipment to dispense the monkeypox vaccination to specific at risk groups in Amsterdam. Picture: AFP / Netherlands OUT

The European Commission has approved a smallpox vaccine made by Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic for use against monkeypox.

“The European Commission has extended the marketing authorisation for the company’s smallpox vaccine, Imvanex, to include protection from monkeypox” in line with a recommendation by the EU’s medicines watchdog, Bavarian Nordic said in a statement.

“The approval … is valid in all European Union Member States as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.”

Japan on Monday confirmed its first case of monkeypox in a man, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike announced.

“It’s a man in his 30s with a history of overseas travel who had returned from Europe. This is the first monkeypox case in Japan,” Ms Koike told reporters.

She said the man had been hospitalised in Tokyo, without giving further details. The case was reported hours after Japan’s government convened a task force meeting to collect information and prepare to test and receive patients at clinics.

A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported worldwide since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

Originally published as New York monkeypox outbreak risks creating world’s newest sexually transmitted disease