The emergence of the monkeypox virus in the United States in the past two weeks has stoked fear of a second pandemic and prompted widespread, often fearful news coverage regarding the unfamiliar virus. Currently, cases of monkeypox, a relative of smallpox, are rare outside some parts of West and Central Africa. Occasional outbreaks in endemic areas typically stem from animal populations such as rodents, presumed to be reservoirs of the monkeypox virus. Unlike COVID-19, poxviruses like the monkeypox virus do not rapidly mutate; hence, vaccines effective against the virus already exist as do treatments, and the mortality rate ranges from one to ten percent.
Yet in the way the media discourse has shaped itself around monkeypox, some public health advocates fear that falsehoods about how the virus spreads may stoke discrimination among certain groups. Specifically, among members of the LGBTQ+ community, misinformation regarding monkeypox has become reminiscent of the stigma surrounding HIV. Part of this is because much recent reporting has cited health experts who claim that monkeypox has some connection to the LGBTQ+ community, and that such groups are at higher risk.
