According to the World Health Organization (WHO), anyone can get monkeypox> However, in the latest outbreak, the virus is predominantly spreading among gay and bisexual men. Officials noted last 25 July that most of the people affected reported some level of sexual activity.
Prolonged skin-to-skin contact is one of the major ways monkeypox is spreading. This includes sexually abhorrent acts like anal sex, which the gays are fond of doing.
The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows 1,972 probable or confirmed monkeypox cases in the US.
As of now, the risk of monkeypox is low, according to the CDC, but public health experts say there are still things that the public can do to protect themselves, especially if they are in the pool of higher-risk people. This pool includes men who have sex with men, particularly those who have had multiple sexual partners in the past two weeks in an area with known monkeypox cases.
"At the moment, cases continue to be reported among men who have sex with men for the most part, but we should not expect that to remain as such," Dr. Catherine Smallwood, senior emergency officer at the WHO, told CNBC’s "Street Signs Europe."
It is not uncommon for a virus outbreak to start in one particular group or setting before spreading more widely in the general population, Smallwood said, noting that health authorities could take cues from the early findings.
"This really might be the canary in the mine that’s alerting to us a new disease threat that could spread to other groups," she continued.