Monkeypox has gotten a lot of coverage in the last few weeks due to its outbreak. Now medical experts are attributing the heightened spread of the illness to two gay sex orgies in Belgium and Spain. From the Associated Press:

A leading adviser to the World Health Organization described the unprecedented outbreak of the rare disease monkeypox in developed countries as “a random event” that might be explained by risky sexual behavior at two recent mass events in Europe.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Dr. David Heymann, who formerly headed WHO’s emergencies department, said the leading theory to explain the spread of the disease was sexual transmission among gay and bisexual men at two raves held in Spain and Belgium. Monkeypox has not previously triggered widespread outbreaks beyond Africa, where it is endemic in animals.

“We know monkeypox can spread when there is close contact with the lesions of someone who is infected, and it looks like sexual contact has now amplified that transmission,” said Heymann.

In the past few weeks, over 90 cases in the U.S. and Europe have been detected too.

U.K. officials have said “a notable proportion” of the cases in Britain and Europe have been in young men with no history of travel to Africa and who are gay, bisexual or have sex with men. Authorities in Portugal and Spain also said their cases were in men who mostly had sex with other men and whose infections were picked up when they sought help for lesions at sexual health clinics.

This is remarkably similar to the AIDS outbreak when the CDC released a report during June of 1981 that revealed 5 gay men had been infected with HIV. Later reports attributed sexually active gay men at higher risk of catching AIDS, including other sexually transmitted diseases.

Not surprisingly, there has already been push back on the monkeypox-gay sex link. Insider laughably tries to run defense claiming even though monkeypox is affecting gay men, it doesn’t mean its sexually transmitted (i.e. it is not a gay disease). However, the AP points out that other scientists say that it will be hard to connect the cause of the virus flare-up to sex or casual contact.

Ultimately, we have to be honest about the data and if gay men are being infected with monkeypox or any illness by sexual or even casual contact, it should be seen as a data point for them including straight or heterosexual men and even women too. No matter who you are, you should avoid sexual promiscuity along with exercising care as to whom you come in contact with. This latest epidemic should not be used as a means to demonize male or female homosexuals.

PHOTO CREDIT: The evolution of monkeypox lesions – By UK government – https://www.gov.uk/government/news/monkeypox-cases-confirmed-in-england-latest-updates#seven-may, OGL 3, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=118186900