Stigma against gay men could worsen Congo’s biggest mpox outbreak, scientists warn
- Unwillingness to report symptoms could drive outbreak underground and gaps in monitoring make it a challenge to estimate how many mpox cases are linked to sex
- There is no licensed vaccine in Congo and lack of awareness among health workers that mpox could be spread sexually could result in missed cases
As Congo copes with its biggest outbreak of mpox, scientists warn discrimination against gay and bisexual men on the continent could make it worse.
In November, the World Health Organization reported that mpox, also known as monkeypox, was being spread via sex in Congo for the first time. That is a significant departure from previous flare-ups, where the virus mainly sickened people in contact with diseased animals.
Mpox has been in parts of central and West Africa for decades, but it was not until 2022 that it was documented to spread via sex; most of the thousands of people infected in around 100 countries that year were gay or bisexual men.
In Africa, unwillingness to report symptoms could drive the outbreak underground, said Dimie Ogoina, an infectious diseases specialist at the Niger Delta University in Nigeria.
“It could be that because homosexuality is prohibited by law in most parts of Africa, many people do not come forward if they think they have been infected with mpox,” Ogoina said.
