IT certainly should have been a consideration at the onset of the outbreak, but it wasn't reported on. Maybe there were concerns that comments about HIV status would be stigmatizing? Although that can create a lot more damage by not providing necessary information to people who would need it.
The results here are preliminary but it at least reminds us that there's quite a complex relationship going on. The fact that gay men are at high risk of HIV should probably tell us that we should at least be perceptive of HIV in monkeypox infection and outcomes.
Thank you for your deep and skeptical look and a very interesting report. A very engaging article.
As a Covid writer, I used to frequent the /r/monkeypoxpositive subreddit when monkeypox was still a thing. The boils and pustules that monkeypox produces are super nasty!!!
Monkeypox is not particularly infectious. So, to spread it, you need large anonymous oral/anal group sex session with no protection used. Or dirty unwashed people copulating in homeless tent cities and selling cheap tricks under the bridge.
HIV is similar. You don't get it from a handshake -- it spreads through rough anal sex, shared needles, nasty behaviour etc etc.
Is this a surprise that many of the resulting sufferers of monkeypox have HIV?
Nevertheless, great find and I believe you found a real cause and effect relationship.
I should remark that the post from September suggests that a large number of people who were HIV+ were on antiretrovirals and a majority of them had CD4 counts above 350.
However, the data was collected based on matching monkeypox diagnosis with HIV and STI surveillance records, so if someone was unaware of their STD status they wouldn't have come up in the database and would have biased results in favor of those who have gone to clinics and received treatments. The patients in the October post may have fit that bill in that two of them may not have been aware of their HIV status while the Patient A became aware but may not have followed up after his diagnosis.
Monkeypox certainly would require closer associations. I think the comments about things involving the anus or rectum at least suggest something more than being in close proximity with others (to put it lightly).
The HIV infection would have to have been before the outbreak which may indicate why the older people in the study had far higher rates of coinfection. However, that could also be a consequence of prior knowledge/messaging on HIV compared to more recent awareness.
But even with all that being said, the monkeypox is almost acting like a red herring here, in that it should probably alert people to the reality that this level of surveillance for monkeypox has also revealed a good degree of spread for other STIs including HIV which should raise a lot more awareness.
I'll say for now that this is just one of the considerations for how widespread the outbreak is, but it has some decent evidence to support it. Now where the monkeypox came from is a completely different matter.
“HIV/AIDS” has a very fraudulent history. Let’s just say the people who engage in certain behavior just so happen to be the people with the *highest* COVID vaccine uptake and were then told to take a smallpox vaccine that wasn’t tested. All roads lead to behavior and vaccination. No monkey business.
Is anyone even mildly surprised by these findings? I'm certainly not. But thanks for reporting them.
IT certainly should have been a consideration at the onset of the outbreak, but it wasn't reported on. Maybe there were concerns that comments about HIV status would be stigmatizing? Although that can create a lot more damage by not providing necessary information to people who would need it.
The results here are preliminary but it at least reminds us that there's quite a complex relationship going on. The fact that gay men are at high risk of HIV should probably tell us that we should at least be perceptive of HIV in monkeypox infection and outcomes.
Thank you for your deep and skeptical look and a very interesting report. A very engaging article.
As a Covid writer, I used to frequent the /r/monkeypoxpositive subreddit when monkeypox was still a thing. The boils and pustules that monkeypox produces are super nasty!!!
Monkeypox is not particularly infectious. So, to spread it, you need large anonymous oral/anal group sex session with no protection used. Or dirty unwashed people copulating in homeless tent cities and selling cheap tricks under the bridge.
HIV is similar. You don't get it from a handshake -- it spreads through rough anal sex, shared needles, nasty behaviour etc etc.
Is this a surprise that many of the resulting sufferers of monkeypox have HIV?
Nevertheless, great find and I believe you found a real cause and effect relationship.
Thanks Igor!
I should remark that the post from September suggests that a large number of people who were HIV+ were on antiretrovirals and a majority of them had CD4 counts above 350.
However, the data was collected based on matching monkeypox diagnosis with HIV and STI surveillance records, so if someone was unaware of their STD status they wouldn't have come up in the database and would have biased results in favor of those who have gone to clinics and received treatments. The patients in the October post may have fit that bill in that two of them may not have been aware of their HIV status while the Patient A became aware but may not have followed up after his diagnosis.
Monkeypox certainly would require closer associations. I think the comments about things involving the anus or rectum at least suggest something more than being in close proximity with others (to put it lightly).
The HIV infection would have to have been before the outbreak which may indicate why the older people in the study had far higher rates of coinfection. However, that could also be a consequence of prior knowledge/messaging on HIV compared to more recent awareness.
But even with all that being said, the monkeypox is almost acting like a red herring here, in that it should probably alert people to the reality that this level of surveillance for monkeypox has also revealed a good degree of spread for other STIs including HIV which should raise a lot more awareness.
I'll say for now that this is just one of the considerations for how widespread the outbreak is, but it has some decent evidence to support it. Now where the monkeypox came from is a completely different matter.
“HIV/AIDS” has a very fraudulent history. Let’s just say the people who engage in certain behavior just so happen to be the people with the *highest* COVID vaccine uptake and were then told to take a smallpox vaccine that wasn’t tested. All roads lead to behavior and vaccination. No monkey business.