Men who have sex with men are the most affected by monkeypox and the head of Aotearoa's Burnett Foundation says he's "most worried" about the stigma attached.
With around 50 countries reporting cases, the prevalence of gay and bisexual men among people infected with the virus has prompted fresh worries over the stigmatisation of the LGBTTQIA+ community.
Burnett Foundation chief executive Joe Rich told Breakfast while he's "reasonably concerned" about the virus itself, he's "most worried" about the stigma attached to it.
New Zealand has two confirmed cases of monkeypox. The first case was announced on Saturday and the second case was announced on Tuesday. They are not linked, but both had been travelling overseas.
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Rich said gay and bisexual men make up about 3% of the population and likened tending to know each other more than the general population to degrees of separation - two degrees instead of six.
"It means we're much more closely connected and it means when an infection gets into our community it spreads around so much more quickly," he said.
"It's something people don't generally tend to understand and they tend to make assumptions or judgements around why that's happening and that can contribute to stigma.
"But it's really just a virus being very opportunistic and spreading around as easily as it can and that's affecting us."
Largely spread through close contact with an infected person, Rich said it's causing an extra layer of judgement for the community.
"We still can have quite Victorian attitudes towards talking about sex as a society, but the reality is nearly everyone has it. This is just a way that the virus is figuring out a way to spread itself around. There's nothing wrong with that," he said.
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"We can't place judgement on people that are getting the virus and making any assumptions around how they've gotten it."
Formerly the New Zealand AIDS Foundation, Rich said the Burnett Foundation "sadly" knows a lot about how stigma can impact health and people's ability to seek healthcare.
He told Breakfast he doesn't want to see a repeat of this with monkeypox.
"If people feel judgement or shame around a particular condition, it means they're much less likely to engage in testing and treatment, which is ultimately going to undermine any efforts we have to stamp this out and control it," Rich said.
"It's just a virus and the great thing about this one is people will recover from it. You still want to avoid getting it though. Because it's just a virus – we've seen this with Covid – viruses do what they do. They mutate and they change and they find efficient ways to move around the population.
"We just need to remember what the virus is doing and not place judgement on the groups that are being affected by it."
Rich encouraged anyone who's been overseas and who has a high fever, swollen lymph nodes and/or a rash to get tested.
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