Mpox cases doubled in Los Angeles County over the past four months

-

Mpox is on the rise again in L.A. County.

On Monday, the Los Angeles County Department of Health reported that cases of the disease, formerly known as Monkeypox, had more than doubled over the past four weeks, up to 52 compared to the 24 cases reported during the previous four-week period.

Related

CDC is urging LGBTQ+ people to get mpox vaccine during Pride Month
“It gives you the freedom to enjoy and be proud during Pride.”

As the Los Angeles Blade reported, the department noted that 70 percent of the new cases were among people who were unvaccinated. It encouraged at-risk communities to get the two-dose Jynneos vaccine, which is available at pharmacies and is offered for free at public health clinics across L.A. County, according to KTLA.

Stay connected to your community

Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today

The department noted that men who have sex with men or transgender people, trans people who have sex with men or trans people, sex workers, anyone who engages in intimate physical contact at large events, people with HIV, and the sexual partners of any of the above are particularly at-risk.

The virus that causes mpox spreads through close personal contact, including direct skin-to-skin contact and contact with objects, fabrics, and surfaces. The L.A. County Department of Health issued recommendations for slowing the spread of mpox, including individuals reducing their number of sexual partners and limiting their attendance at sex parties. It also advised against sharing items like sex toys, towels, clothing, bedding, and toothbrushes and recommended that bedding, sex toys, and other intimate items be washed after each use.

Mpox causes a painful rash, but symptoms can also include headache, fever, chills, body ache, fatigue, and swollen lymph glands, and in some cases, may lead to hospitalization. The L.A. County Department of Health recommended that at-risk individuals talk to their sexual partners about mpox symptoms and refrain from sexual activity if they or their partners show signs of the disease. It also recommended individuals exchange contact information with new partners so that they can follow up if they show mpox symptoms.

While the virus that causes mpox is considered endemic in central and west African countries, it began spreading in the U.S. and Europe in 2022, causing an outbreak that saw, at its peak between July and August 2022, around 3,000 new cases per week in the U.S. During that outbreak, at least 58 people in the U.S. died of the disease. Anyone can contract mpox, but the 2022 global outbreak was particularly prominent among men who have sex with men.

Case numbers in the U.S. have dropped dramatically since 2022 with the widespread availability of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine, which is now widely available. But in May, the CDC reported that only 23 percent of people at risk of mpox infection in the U.S. had received both doses of the vaccine.

Messaging around the virus has all but disappeared in the U.S. since the Department of Health and Human Services officially declared an end to the national public health emergency over a year ago. Since then, small mpox outbreaks have occurred in New York, North Carolina, and Colorado. And a study released earlier this year found that closeted men who have sex with men were less likely to get vaccinated or treated for mpox due to a lack of information about the virus and the vaccine.

Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.



source https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/09/mpox-cases-doubled-in-los-angeles-county-over-the-past-four-months/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Prosecutors decline to charge suspect identified in alleged anti-trans mass shooting

-
Image
Prosecutors in Chicago have failed to charge a suspect identified in photo lineups as the shooter who killed a trans woman and her mother in a home invasion in January . Three other victims were wounded, including two other trans women. The suspect, who remains unidentified because he hasn’t been charged, has two other pending cases in Cook County court, records reveal: a felony residential burglary count and a misdemeanor count of domestic battery. The 19-year-old suspect lives in the same apartment complex as the victims did, on Chicago’s South Side. The police report for the mass shooting details how two people “kicked in the front door and began shooting” at about 1:40 p.m. on January 23. Unique Banks, 20, and her mother Alexsandra Olmo, 43, were killed at the scene. Three other victims were hospitalized in critical condition. One witness told investigators they had seen two males running north from the courtyard building wearing green camouflage. The shooting took place o...
Read more

Census Bureau will start testing new LGBTQ+ questions on its yearly survey

-
Image
The U.S. Census Bureau, after nearly a year of pushing the Biden administration, will begin testing questions pertaining to LGBTQ+ identity on its American Community Survey (ACS). These questions would ask people about their sexual orientation and gender identity. The Bureau put out a Federal Register notice signifying that this is the last chance for the public to give comment on all pending ACS questions, including those pertaining to LGBTQ+ individuals. The deadline given for comment is May 30, with an online form provided for any feedback on these questions. The wording for these questions can be found on the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs website . After the Bureau’s deadline, it will be submitting the questions to the Office of Management and Budget, where they will await approval for testing in the summer. The ACS asks questions about demographic, socioeconomic, and housing-related topics annually. New questions must undergo a rigorous approval and testing p...
Read more

Conservatives are outraged over fake AI images of Target’s Satanic offerings

-
Image
Conservatives were already upset about Target over its LGBTQ+-inclusive Pride collection. But now they’re angry over fake AI-generated images that show the store selling “Satanic” clothing. The images show kids wearing clothes with inverted pentagrams and goat heads and a store display with a red, goat-headed mannequin. The images were created by Facebook user Dan Reese with the AI program Midjourney, Reuters reported . A Target spokesperson told the publication that it “has never sold” the pictured items, and the items aren’t available on the store’s website. Related Stories Brave gay man yells “Praise Satan” & throws Bible in fire at pastor’s book-burning The husbands kissed as congregants screamed in disgust. “That guy has balls of steel,” one commenter wrote under the video. A Facebook page called Christian Patriots posted the images and wrote , “Look at the faces on these children, I feel in my spirit, they even knew there was something satanic with making t...
Read more