Experts Say Sexual Intercourse Is the Driving Factor for Monkeypox Transmission

Experts released a new study revealing that anal and oral sexual intercourse are the main drivers in the transmission of monkeypox. They said that skin-to-skin contact is less likely to be a risk factor.

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Monkeypox

Some Experts Support That Sexual Intercourse Causes Monkeypox Transmission

A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that experts may have framed monkeypox's typical transmission route precisely backward.

With the current monkeypox outbreak, a growing body of evidence supports sexual transmission, particularly through seminal fluids, according to Dr. Aniruddha Hazra, medical director of the University of Chicago Sexual Wellness Clinic.

Infectious disease physician at the University of Southern California, Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, and resident physician in global health at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Dr. Lao-Tzu Allan-Blitz, published an essay on Medium in which they reviewed the science supporting the argument that during the current outbreak, monkeypox is primarily transmitted through anal and oral intercourse between men.

"It looks very clear to us that this is an infection that is transmitted sexually the vast majority of the time," Allan-Blitz said.

Evidence that Supports Sexual Intercourse Causes the Monkeypox Transmission

Allan-Blitz cited WHO data in his essay, stating that men aged 18 to 44 account for more than three-quarters of global monkeypox cases. According to him, this is a typical age breakdown for diagnoses of sexually transmitted infections among gay and bisexual men. Furthermore, in recent studies of pooled monkeypox cases among this demographic, 17% to 32% of those diagnosed with the virus were also diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI).

In his essay, he also stated that, unlike in the 11 African countries where the virus has become endemic since its discovery in humans in 1970, the majority of monkeypox lesions have occurred in men's genital and anorectal areas during the global outbreak. According to experts, this suggests that these were the sites where the virus first entered the body.

The conclusion was supported by a study published in the British Medical Association's journal. In a study of 197 men with monkeypox in London, researchers discovered that 56% had lesions in the genital area and 42% had lesions in the anorectal regions. In another study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, a global team of researchers pooled 538 monkeypox cases from around the world, all of which were men, and discovered that 73% had lesions in the genital or anorectal areas.

The researchers also mentioned in their essay that they discovered monkeypox in sperm and were able to culture the virus, implying that it could be transmitted through ejaculation. Furthermore, the authors of two recent studies detected the virus after taking anal swabs from men who had monkeypox but were asymptomatic, indicating that the virus may spread from the anorectal area during anal intercourse before people develop symptoms. More research is needed on both fronts, according to experts.

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Some Experts Don't Discount the Transmission of Monkeypox Through Skin-to-Skin Contact

Dr. Rosamund Lewis, World Health Organization technical lead for monkeypox, told NBC News that it is unfortunate but true that we do not yet know whether the virus is primarily transmitted through intercourse.

She believes that reading the situation entirely due to anal or oral sex is an overreach. Although the correlation appears to be strong, it does not explain the entire picture of the disease caused by this virus. As a result, she said that we must maintain an open mind.

Dr. Paul Adamson, an infectious disease specialist at UCLA School of Medicine, said he is not sure we can say that the current outbreak is primarily due to sexual transmission rather than skin-to-skin contact that occurs during sex. However, new evidence suggests that monkeypox is more easily transmitted sexually.