MADRID, SPAIN — Spanish health authorities believe that the new infectious string of monkeypox cases is linked to a gay sauna in Madrid and an LGBT Pride festival that took place in the Canary Islands that drew tens of thousands of sexually promiscuous homosexuals.
On Friday, the Government of Spain announced that there were 23 new cases of monkeypox. According to Reuters, Madrid regional health chief Enrique Ruiz Escudero told reporters that health officials traced the outbreak to a gay sauna, which has now been closed.
“The Public Health Department will carry out an even more detailed analysis… to control contagion, cut the chains of transmission and try to mitigate the transmission of this virus as much as possible,” Escudero said.
On Monday, The Associated Press reports that an LGBT Pride event in the Canary Islands, attended by 80,000 homosexuals, may have also resulted in mass exposure.
According to LGBT News outlet PinkNews, in early May, an outbreak of monkeypox in Belgium has been connected the “Darklands Fetish Festival” another LGBT Pride event.
According to festival organizers, at least three cases have been linked to the event.
While many of the recent cases of monkeypox are among men who have sex with men, Dr. Agam Rao, a medical officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, told NBC News that monkeypox isn’t considered a sexually transmitted disease.
“We know monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with the lesions of someone who is infected, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission,” Dr. David Heymann, a leading adviser to the World Health Organization, told the Associated Press.
Monkeypox is regularly found in animals in central and western Africa.
Last Wednesday, Massachusetts confirmed and announced the first confirmed case of monkeypox in the United States.
“The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) today confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in an adult male with recent travel to Canada,” the department expressed in a statement.
Dr. Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization regional director for Europe, said most of the initial monkeypox cases found are “among men who have sex with men.”
“Firstly, because in this instance all but one of the recent cases have no relevant travel history to areas where monkeypox is endemic, in West Africa or Central Africa. Secondly, because most of the initial cases found are being detected through sexual health services and are among men who have sex with men. And thirdly, because of the geographically dispersed nature of the cases across Europe and beyond, this suggests that transmission may have been ongoing for some time,” Dr. Kluge said.
Kluge expressed that WHO is deeply troubled over the upcoming LGBT pride festivals and parties, taking place next month for LGBT Pride Month.
“I am concerned that transmission could accelerate, as the cases currently being detected are among those engaging in sexual activity, and the symptoms are unfamiliar to many,” Kluge said.
Initial symptoms of the monkeypox virus include fever, headache, myalgia, fatigue, and swelling of the lymph nodes. After one to two days, lesions can develop in the mouth, face, hands, and feet. The rash may further spread, and the number of lesions can range from just a few to thousands.