'Early data suggest that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up a high number of cases,' the CDC notes on its landing page for the monkeypox outbreak. In the United States, 20 states and the District of Columbia have recorded 113 total cases, also per the CDC. It's a legacy that public health experts are trying to avoid with the newest global outbreak driving headlines and information campaigns - monkeypox.Īs of Friday, more than 2,500 cases have been confirmed in 37 countries outside West and Central Africa, where the virus is endemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Related: As monkeypox outbreak spreads, these pictures can help you identify symptoms
'Some might even argue that the harmful legacy of those early information campaigns continues to this day.' 'These early communications, amplified by an often hostile mainstream media, created significant fear that fed stigma and discrimination for decades,' Andy Seale, an adviser to the World Health Organization's global HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections programs, told TODAY via email. For even the least-informed citizens, the message was clear: There was no cure for this new disease spreading globally through sex and other pathways.
In the early days of the HIV epidemic, in the 1980s, governments around the world mailed public health information to households featuring images of tombstones and death.
