Unlike the coronavirus – which turned out to be especially virulent – the monkeypox virus is proving to be more selective and certainly nowhere near as infectious.
When monkeypox emerged in the UK just a few weeks ago, there was barely any mention of which groups were at risk. Partly because we didn’t know – but even when it did become clearer that it was men who have sex with men who were particularly susceptible to contracting the virus, there was a fear that saying this publicly could foster stigma for a group all too familiar with bigotry.
But now the UK Heath Security Agency has at last unveiled its strategy to try and mitigate the spread of the monkeypox virus – and its main intervention will be to offer a vaccine to gay and bisexual men.
While I agree with using public health intelligence to target those most at risk of contracting this virus, they seem to have neglected one group that also face an elevated risk: female sex workers. Monkeypox won’t give a jot whether sexual intimacy happens between same sex or mixed sex couples. Those who have more sex, with multiple partners, are still at risk.
Not for the first time have women been overlooked when a virus emerges, and public health advice and intervention begin to be formulated. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, when HIV emerged and began spreading among the male gay community, women were ignored – particularly female sex workers.