What The Pox? - Investigating the Mpox (monkeypox) outbreak

In this episode of What The Pox?, host Martin Joseph explores the resurgence of news about MPOX in 2024 after it is once again declared a global health emergency by the WHO in August 2024.

The episode unpacks the spread of the more dangerous Clade 1B virus, which is killing hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and its wider impact in Central and West Africa. We ask if a global north spread of the new strain will happen, and what the global response must be to this emergency.

This episode's guests are:

• Dr Marc-Alain Widdowson - WHO Lead, Infectious Hazard Management
• Dr Catherine Smallwood - WHO Europe
• Dr Chloe Orkin - British physician and Professor of HIV/AIDS medicine at Queen Mary University of London
• Quasar Siddiqui - Vaccine Coordinator at The Love Tank

Enjoying What The Pox? Get more from QueerAF:

• Understand the LGBTQIA+ news (but skip the doomscrolling) with QueerAF's top-rated weekly newsletter
• Listen to our award-winning QueerAF podcast, with inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories
• Listen to our documentary on the history of PrEP and it's impact on the way queer communities have sex - The Other Blue Pill
• Instagram - @WeAreQueerAF_
• Twitter - @WeAreQueerAF
• Read our mission

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"I’ve been taking PrEP for almost 7 years now. During that time, I’ve been crazy enthusiastic about making positive changes to reduce health inequalities. But I have seen how queer health has been mishandled time and time again - most recently, MPOX is the perfect example"

So today, Phil Samba is here to help us all discover the untold story behind PrEP, the revolutionary pill that's transforming HIV prevention and sexual health.

In the first episode of QueerAF's new six-part limited series documentary, we dive into the battle for PrEP access in the UK by not only looking at the court case fought here in England for the drug - but the advent of HIV and AIDS in the 80s.

Did you know we knew PrEP was effective from the early 2000s? Why did it take until 2020 to get it on the NHS you ask?

Join host Phil Samba as he uncovers the legal struggles, the historic activism, and the groundbreaking moments that made PrEP a reality. From the early days of HIV awareness to the modern fight for equitable healthcare, this is the compelling journey of The Other Blue Pill.

This week, we understand the past of this HIV game-changer, so in the first episode of a series about the the present, and future of The Other Blue Pill.

Hosted by Phil Samba, it is a QueerAF production for The Love Tank, supported by National Aids Trust.

• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-other-blue-pill/id1744532072
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1kOezXQXHp4ZnVXJLzBaZe?si=bf88e76133ee4da2
• QueerAF: https://www.wearequeeraf.com/theotherbluepill/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s been quite a year since we last spoke to you.

But since we have, as many of the experts we talked to predicted, pockets of outbreaks that have the potential to spread epidemically have started to pop up again.

We’ve also seen Monkeypox get renamed to MPOX to combat stigma and racist stereotypes connected to the virus. 

As we mark a year since the UK outbreak peaked, we wanted to check in and ask what we know now. Has it gone away? Will it come back? And when it comes to diseases that impact marginalised communities, what lessons have we learned?

This week's guests are:

• Will Nutland - Co-founder of The Love Tank CIC
• Dr Chole Orkin - British physician and Professor of HIV/AIDS medicine at Queen Mary University of London
• Dr Richard Peabody - WHO lead of high-threat pathogen team

• How MPOX is spreading asymptomatically, and what this means for the spread.
• Why people with HIV and low CD4 counts are dying, as experts call for MPOX to be classified as an AIDS-related disease.
• New information on vaccines' effectiveness and whether you can get reinfected - early signs showing a mutation means this is now possible.

Enjoying What The Pox? Get more from QueerAF:

• Understand the LGBTQIA+ news (but skip the doomscrolling) with QueerAF's top-rated weekly newsletter
• Listen to our award-winning QueerAF podcast, with inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories
• Instagram - @WeAreQueerAF_
• Twitter - @WeAreQueerAF
• Read our mission

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Countries are struggling, vaccines are scarce and mpox (monkeypox) is at risk of becoming endemic in many countries.

In the final episode of this documentary, we find out what actions need to be taken at a global scale to get the outbreak under control.

This virus became endemic in some countries after we first saw it in the 1970s, and we have not done much about it. That bears repeating, for over 50 years - people have been struggling with it, in Central and Eastern Africa - and even now, when it’s spreading around the world - the action is limited.

The most frustrating thing for people with experience and experts is we have the tools to fix this. But only if we work worldwide to prevent future pandemics, if governments step up, and if we change our attitudes to queer sex.

Can we end the outbreak and prevent future ones - let's work out What The Pox? is going on. 

Resources:

• Ask your GP for a referral to the PLATINUM trial if you've caught or had monkeypox
• Campaign calling on the UK to do more from THT, NAT and Prepster - Write to your MP tool

This week's guests are:

• Eolan Mcfadden - Frontline Aids,
• Dr Jose Hidalgo - Infectious disease physician with Via Libre, Peru
• Dr Richard Peabody - WHO lead of high-threat pathogen team

Listen to understand:

• Why countries like Peru are only just seeing their peaks and struggling to respond without global help
• How globally connected response to infectious diseases is the only way to end this monkeypox outbreak
• The pandemic preparedness work that the UN, WHO and HIV organisations are taking part in, to try and prevent future pandemics

Enjoying What The Pox? Get more from QueerAF:

• Understand the LGBTQIA+ news (but skip the doomscrolling) with QueerAF's top-rated weekly newsletter
• Listen to our award-winning QueerAF podcast, with inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories
• Instagram - @WeAreQueerAF_
• Twitter - @WeAreQueerAF
• Read our mission

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sex. Some people aren’t just doing it - they’re really doing it.

But, like with anything fun - safety comes first. We’ve got to be aware of sexually transmitted infections.

Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection, but this current outbreak is being transmitted sexually. And when it comes to infections that are passed on sexually, there is an added level of stigma.

It’s clear that when STIs impact sexually active folk in the LGBTQIA+ community - it’s worse. Why is that? What is it about queer sex that creates this furore. It's just sex?

So let's talk about sex and work out just What The Pox? is going on.

This week's guests are:

• Jason Domino - Porn4Prep founder and sex worker advocate
• Joseph Osmundson - American biophysicist and writer
• Harun Talunay - Sexual health expert with lived experience of monkeypox
• Topher Taylor - Award-winning pleasure expert and queer columnist

Listen to understand:

• What sex on site venues do to empower people to have better knowledge of their sexual health
• Why monkeypox could impact sex workers for months if they get the virus
• How shame and stigma can be worse when talking about queer sex, and what to do about it

Enjoying What The Pox? Get more from QueerAF:

• Understand the LGBTQIA+ news (but skip the doomscrolling) with QueerAF's top-rated weekly newsletter
• Listen to our award-winning QueerAF podcast, with inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories
• Instagram - @WeAreQueerAF_
• Twitter - @WeAreQueerAF
• Read our mission

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I haven’t had one. Some people have - but with a limited supply left, just who can get a vaccine?

Medical professionals are under the assumption that I currently don’t need a vaccine as they think I probably have some immunity.

But we don’t know how long that will last. I’m nervous about if and what immunity I have and how long it will last. I can’t imagine having to go through all of this again.

And what about the folks that haven’t had Mpox (monkeypox)? How easy is it to get a vaccine? And what about those like me that went through this, was their experience any better? Today, we’re travelling around the UK to find out.

Because if you want to hear about access to the vaccine, then we need to speak to the folks that have tried, succeeded or failed to get hold of one to find out what the pox is going on?

This week's guests:

• Harun Talunay - Sexual health expert with lived experience of monkeypox
• Topher Taylor - Award winning pleasure expert and queer columnist
• Conor Macis - PHD student and Uni of Bristol teacher who shares his monkeypox journey
• Dan Ellis - Director and actor

Listen to understand:

• What parts of the UK have better access to monkeypox vaccines
• Why care is different depending on where you live
• How soon after having monkeypox can you be more confident that you don't pass it on via sex

Enjoying What The Pox? Get more from QueerAF:

• Understand the LGBTQIA+ news (but skip the doomscrolling) with QueerAF's top-rated weekly newsletter
• Listen to our award-winning QueerAF podcast, with inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories
• Instagram - @WeAreQueerAF_
• Twitter - @WeAreQueerAF
• Read our mission

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this bonus episode of What The Pox? host Martin Joseph shares his most recent QueerAF episode: How can you be queer, single and happy?

Monkeypox stigma and shame, is inherently linked to queer and sex shame - and so the themes in this episode, ring so true. So true, they are practically an episode of the show. ]

We'll be back to wrap up the season over the coming weeks with big interviews with the WHO, investigating new scientific research which could create new treatments for Monkeypox - plus we'll delve deeper into the the themes of this bonus episode - sex, and the shame our community can feel about it.

Enjoying What The Pox? Get more from QueerAF:

• Understand the LGBTQIA+ news (but skip the doomscrolling) with QueerAF's top-rated weekly newsletter
• Listen to our award-winning QueerAF podcast, with inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories
• Instagram - @WeAreQueerAF_
• Twitter - @WeAreQueerAF
• Read our mission

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis is like the Chris Witty of monkeypox in the US - slides and all. But can you imagine anyone 'official' in the UK talking about buttholes, fetish gear or anal while responding to a health crisis? 

That's what Daskalakis is doing, and he says the language he's persuaded the CDC to use is working better than anything they've used before. In official CDC guides about the virus, expect to see language like anal, oral and buttholes. Which, as NAM Aidsmap director Matthew Hodson notes earlier in the show, works because it reflects how gay and bi men talk. 

In the global north outbreak, monkeypox primarily affects sexually active queer, gay, bi and men who have sex with men. But numbers are now declining after a sharp spike, with nNw York named the epicenter of the global north outbreak. 

However, without action, it could take root and become endemic in more countries, joining those in Central and West Africa who've struggled with the disease for many years. 

Daskalakis is acutely aware of this. He's using his long history of sexual health work to get vaccines into arms. Indeed, this history has even seen him do HIV outreach off his own back. All of that and more this week as we work out just what the pox is going on, in America...

This week's guests are:

• Dr. Demetre Daskalakis - White House Deputy Co-ordinator for Monkeypox
• Joseph Osmundson - American biophysicist and writer

Listen to understand:

• The press headlines that painted him as a monkeypox ‘super spreader’ and satanist for being a gay man with tattoos
• The frank language he’s persuaded federal departments to use
• Why he’s taking vaccines to the places where those most affected are, including fetish events and bathhouses

Resources:

• CDC guidance

Visit wearequeeraf.com/whatthepox to support the show and listen ad-free

Take action! Write to your MP to help the monkeypox outbreak with this easy tool.

Enjoying What The Pox? Get more from QueerAF:

• Understand the LGBTQIA+ news (but skip the doomscrolling) with QueerAF's top-rated weekly newsletter
• Listen to our award-winning QueerAF podcast, with inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories
• Instagram - @WeAreQueerAF_
• Twitter - @WeAreQueerAF
• Read our mission

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Health secretary Thérèse Coffey has rejected advice from officials to procure additional doses of the mpox (monkeypox) vaccine.

That's the topline from Donato Mancini's scoop for the FT this weekend. But what does it mean?

• Read Donato's story in the Financial Times

It's raised great concern that it will leave the UK ill-prepared for a resurgence of the disease. This news comes as the outbreak could be curtailed, if progress continues, with new cases down to 100 a week. It also flies in the face of advice from the UK Health Security Agency and sexual health experts.

Join us, in this rapid response special episode, to work out why the UK government has rejected this advice as we ask Donato and some of the show's recent contributors what the pox is going on?

This week's guests are:

Donato Mancini - Pharma Correspondent, Financial Times

Susan Cole - Community Engagement, NAM AIDSmap

Matthew Hodson - Executive Director of NAM AIDSmap

Will Nutland - Co-founder of Love Tank CIC, Prepster

Listen to understand:

Why this outbreak feels familiar to HIV in the 80s

What we can learn from the response (and lack of) to HIV - for monkeypox

How we can talk about monkeypox without stigmatising sexually active LGBTQIA+ people

Visit wearequeeraf.com/whatthepox to support the show and listen ad-free

Take action! Write to your MP to help the monkeypox outbreak with this easy tool.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mpox (Monkeypox) has been troubling for many queers here in the UK and US because of the parallels to HIV. The legacy of AIDS stigma born in the 80s still lives with us today.

This UK government has not released statements damning LGBTQIA+ people for monkeypox, but their silence is damning. It has had almost the same effect in drumming up homophobic rhetoric as if they had directly targeted us with this speech.

But 40 years on, we have come a long way - we’ve fought for policies which could end HIV by the end of the decade. We can learn many lessons from HIV for Mpox, even though they’re very different viruses. So what are they?

Join us to work out why HIV charities leading the fight to work out just what the pox is going on?

This week's guests are:

Matthew Hodson - Executive Director of NAM Aidsmap

Susan Cole - Community engagement lead, NAM Aidsmap

Harun Talunay - Sexual health expert with lived experience of monkeypox

Listen to understand:

Why this outbreak feels familiar to HIV in the 80s

What we can learn from the response (and lack of) to HIV - for monkeypox

How we can talk about monkeypox without stigmatising sexually active LGBTQIA+ people

Visit wearequeeraf.com/whatthepox to support the show and listen ad-free

Take action! Write to your MP to help the monkeypox outbreak with this easy tool.

Enjoying What The Pox? Get more from QueerAF:

• Understand the LGBTQIA+ news (but skip the doomscrolling) with QueerAF's top-rated weekly newsletter
• Listen to our award-winning QueerAF podcast, with inspiring LGBTQIA+ stories
• Instagram - @WeAreQueerAF_
• Twitter - @WeAreQueerAF
• Read our mission

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.