New Delhi: Monkeypox disease is spreading rapidly all over the world. In 72 countries, the number of its confirmed patients has increased to about 15 thousand. Four cases have also been found in India. Most of its patients are male and homosexual. In such a situation, the question is arising whether monkeypox is a disease spread through sex? The World Health Organization (WHO) says that it cannot be said with certainty right now. However, a new study in London has estimated that 95 percent of monkeypox cases are spread through sexual relations.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that the outbreak of monkeypox is happening more in those men who have sex with a man. In these too, this disease is spreading more especially in those men who have many sex partners. However, it is not yet clear whether this disease is spread through sexual relations. Along with the WHO Director General, many health experts and infectious disease experts are also not fully ready to consider monkeypox as STD i.e. sexually transmitted disease.
According to India Today, Dr. Sanjay Rai, Professor of Community Medicine at AIIMS, says that we do not have enough evidence yet to say that monkeypox is an STD or a disease spread through sex. Professor Dr. Girdhar Babu, Head of Life Course Epidemiology, Public Health Foundation of India, says that men who have sex with men are among the high-risk patients of monkeypox. But this is not the only case. People living in close contact with monkeypox patients and touching their wounds can also get this disease.
WHO may not yet consider monkeypox to be a sexually transmitted disease. But a new study conducted in London makes a different claim. In this study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, between April 27 and April 24, research was done on 528 confirmed patients from 16 countries. It has been claimed in the study that in 95 percent of the patients, this disease reached due to sexual contact. Of these patients, 98 percent are gay or bisexual men. 41 percent have HIV, which is also spread through sexual contact. Testing the semen of 32 men showed that 29 of them contained the DNA of monkeypox.
