When Kyle Olson started feeling sick, he thought it was the flu or COVID-19. It started with aches and pains that lasted more than a week.
He slept for days and began to feel a little better. Then he saw the injuries. Because of where they were, every time I went to the bathroom, it was incredibly painful.
“It would be so painful that I would have to, for example, go to bed afterwards, it took everything away from me,” Olson said.
He went to see his doctor, who finally showed the diagnosis of monkeypox. Olson later won a call from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who told him to keep a diary of everything he was experiencing. He signed papers and agreed to remain in quarantine until it is legal through a doctor.
Olson worked to occupy the time he now had to spend indoors cleaning and rearranging his apartment and spending more time online. Although the COVID years have helped him adjust to a way of life at home, this quarantine has affected him differently. And despite cases of ape pox spreading across the country and in Minnesota, Olson didn’t know how it was spread. Or someone else who had it.
“I think other people are ashamed of that,” Olson said.
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Monkeypox is a virus. It is part of the same circle of familiar viruses as smallpox, but it often has milder symptoms and is not usually fatal. It has been circulating in Central and West Africa for years and, more recently, around the world. It is transmitted at most by narrow routes and prolonged skin-to-skin contact. State health officials say it can be transmitted between sexual people, family members or, in some cases, by sharing sheets with someone infected with the virus.
As of Aug. 30, Minnesota had 124 cases shown. While there are signs that the virus is slowing down in the United States, it is unclear whether this will continue.
Although you can get monkeypox, so far, most cases in the United States and Minnesota involve men who identify as gay or bisexual and men who have sex with men. exchange on how to treat those most vulnerable to the disease without perpetuating prejudice.
This is a challenge that Minnesota’s public fitness has also taken on.
“We’ve had a bit of rejection from [the] network about some of our previous posts, stigmatizing or talking too much about gay [and] bisexual men, and some of the considerations about it,” Jose Ramirez, HIV program manager told the MDH.
Therefore, they broadened their message, emphasizing that anyone, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation, can contract monkeypox and deserves to be careful, while striving to provide more specific outreach to the communities most affected by the virus.
“We don’t need to miss other people who can spread this virus without knowing it, because they’ve clung to the misinformation of the very stigmatizing symbol of what monkeypox is,” said Mattie Laidlaw, network engagement systems planner at MDH’s Center for Health Equity.
However, despite those efforts, Fitness says this stigma still affects the way Minnesotans fight monkeypox.
“It prevents other people from getting tested,” Laidlaw said. “Especially if you look at the communities of the Minnesota metro area. “
Laidlaw said she has heard stories from other people who are not short of invasive interrogation evidence through doctors about their sexual behavior.
“[These questions] are really mandatory for the provider doing the testing to know. They just want to see that there’s a rash showing up and take a sample,” he said. “But because of the way the mainstream narrative has created this kind of story about what monkeypox is and who it affects, it’s hard for other people to go through and get tested because of that stigma. “
Part of what makes ape pox so difficult to transmit is that even though it can be sexually transmitted, it is not considered a sexually transmitted infection or an STI.
“It’s sexually transmitted, but it’s not sexually transmitted in the sense that it’s only transmitted through sex,” said Dr. Michael Ross, a circle professor of family medicine at the University of Minnesota. “It’s a difference that a lot of other people just don’t understand. But it’s very important. “
While some have called for converting that and labeling monkeypox as an STI (some studies suggest sex can spread the virus faster), Minnesota fitness officials are reluctant to take that step.
“You can be exposed in other ways,” Ramirez recalls. I think one of our biggest considerations is that if other people identify it as a sexually transmitted disease, other people [will] be like, ‘Well, I’m not engaging in sexual activity, I’m not at risk, I’m fine. ‘While someone who is part of your circle of friends or circle of family may have been exposed.
Or that labeling it as an STI will result in shaming those who contract it for what others say.
After Kyle Olson’s diagnosis of monkeypox was confirmed, he said he felt lonely. He did some studies online, and not finding much information or community, he felt he was communicating frankly.
“I had to make it my project to communicate it because I know other people are secretly taking care of it,” he said.
Olson talked about the diagnosis on his Facebook page, and other people began to succeed. Some worried about his health, while others asked about the virus and the treatment he was receiving. Olson said he felt he brought other people together.
But it put him in the spotlight.
Then one day, Olson responded to messages on a hookup site, not looking for anyone, only spending time in quarantine, when he won a DM.
“He knew my call and everything, but his profile is empty. So, I don’t know who it is,” Olson said. other people at risk.
The misfortune around public fitness issues is not unique to monkeypox. Especially now, a pandemic in which there is a difference of opinion on whether to draw attention to other people who don’t wear a mask or travel unnecessarily is helping to prevent the spread of the disease.
This is especially acute when it comes to STIs, which continue to be shrouded in stigma even when there are about 20 million new cases of STIs a year, according to the American Sexual Health Association.
Many facets of the monkeypox epidemic, adding the tendency to disgrace other people for their actions, remind Dylan Boyer, development director of the Aliveness project, of the fight against HIV.
“We couldn’t dishonor other people for using condoms, we couldn’t dishonor other people for not having more sex,” she said. to people with accurate and capable data and to worry about, let them make their own possible and dignified choices and what is smart for them and their health.
Kyle Olson, who was allowed out of the monkeypox quarantine on Aug. 12, said other people know more about the virus and how it affects people.
“It’s a very painful delight,” he said. I wish more people had empathy in this state, this country, and this world. “