[Public health recommendations as microaggressions: monkeypox and LGBTQIA+ populations]

The article aims to analyze public health recommendations of the World Health Organization and the manifestations of its Director-General during the mpox epidemic addressed to men who have sex with men (MSM) in the light of microaggression as a category of analysis. The stigmatizing potential of statistical disclosure to a broad public that 98% of those infected were among MSM is questioned, as well as the use of the MSM category itself and the suggestion of partial or total sexual abstinence as a way to stop viral dissemination. The following are suggested as alternatives capable of simultaneously guaranteeing disease prevention policies without stigmatizing vulnerable groups, especially the LGBTQIA+ population: (i) differentiating the disclosures addressed to the general public from those aimed at populations predominantly contaminated and subject to a higher degree of social vulnerability; (ii) overcoming the use of the expression MSM, in communications aimed at a wide audience, to use the expression SGD (sex and gender diverse population), maintaining the procedure of recording, in scientific research and in medical forms, the gender identity and sexual orientation by self-declaration of patients; (iii) avoiding messages that negatively address sexuality, reinforce a majority sexual experience, and generate a socially punitive responsibility of the infected, thus excluding from the recommendations aimed at the broad public, the suggestion of partial sexual abstinence, related to the reduction of the number of partners, or total sexual abstinence, except for the cases of people in the active phase of infection or in the immediate period of recovery.

Epidemiology of monkeypox notifications in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

OBJECTIVES

to describe the epidemiological profile of suspected, confirmed, and probable cases of monkeypox in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.

METHODS

a descriptive, retrospective study of reported suspected, confirmed, and probable cases of monkeypox infection in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The study period was from the first notification, on June 11, to September 7, 2022.

RESULTS

a total of 759 suspected, confirmed, and probable cases of monkeypox infection were reported, with 35.44% suspected, 53.75% confirmed, and 10.81% probable cases, respectively. As for the coexisting diseases within confirmed cases, 38.79% were related to people living with human immunodeficiency virus, and 13.74% had some active sexually transmitted infection. Regarding the evolution of confirmed cases, 47.43% were cured.

CONCLUSIONS

the results contribute to greater knowledge and control of the infection by allowing better disease management and care offered in health services.

Vaccines against monkeypox

The monkeypox virus is a virus that has 90% genomic homology with the human (smallpox), but it is naturally transmitted between different wild animal reservoirs and is considered a zoonosis. Throughout the 20th century, different vaccines based on the vaccinia poxvirus were developed and used for vaccination against smallpox. After the eradication of smallpox, these vaccines were no longer used. Current vaccines against monkeypox virus are classified by the WHO as replicative (ACAM2000), minimally replicative (LC16m8) and non-replicative (MVA-BN), the latter being the one currently used. The 2022 extra-African monkeypox virus epidemic has highlighted the lack of vaccines with proven efficacy and low reactogenicity. It is considered that the use of this vaccine in the current outbreak may play a role in the prevention or attenuation of the disease as pre-exposure prophylaxis in close contacts of confirmed cases.

Viruela del mono con afectación de conductos ecrinos

La viruela del mono (VDM) se había considerado históricamente una enfermedad zoonótica relegada a áreas donde existe un reservorio animal concreto, con limitada capacidad para propagarse entre humanos. Sin embargo, el estudio de esta enfermedad ha cobrado una reciente actualidad por el aumento creciente de su incidencia en áreas no endémicas, así como la objetivación de la transmisibilidad entre personas. Presentamos el caso de un varón de 27 años con lesiones cutáneas y úlceras perianales sugestivas de infección viral en el que se confirmó la infección por virus de la VDM mediante PCR. En el estudio histológico de las lesiones ulceradas perianales encontramos el patrón general de esta infección viral, que se discute en este artículo, junto a sus posibles diagnósticos diferenciales, y un hallazgo característico, que es la afectación de las glándulas ecrinas. Este hallazgo puede orientar el diagnóstico histológico de lesiones cutáneas ulceradas en el contexto clínico de sospecha de VDM.