Monkeypox likely spread by sex at raves in Europe, expert says
LONDON — A leading adviser to the World Health Organization described the outbreak of monkeypox in developed countries as “a random event” that appears to have been caused by sexual activity at two raves in Europe.
Dr. David Heymann, who formerly headed WHO’s emergencies department, said the leading theory to explain the spread of the disease was sexual transmission at raves in Belgium and Spain.
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,” Heymann said.
That marks a significant departure from the disease’s typical pattern of spread in central and western Africa, where people are mainly infected by animals like wild rodents and primates, and outbreaks have not spilled across borders.
On Monday, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Director Andrea Ammon said “the likelihood of further spread of the virus through close contact, for example during sexual activities among persons with multiple sexual partners, is considered to be high.”
To date, the WHO has recorded more than 90 cases of monkeypox in a dozen countries, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Spain, Switzerland and the United States.
U.S. health officials said Monday that they knew of one confirmed case, in the state of Massachusetts, and four probable cases — two in Utah, one in Florida and one in New York City. All were men who had traveled outside the country.
The monkeypox cases have been mild, with no deaths reported. Typically, the virus causes fever, chills, rash and lesions on the face or genitals. Most people recover within several weeks without requiring hospitalization.
Heymann, who is also a professor of infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the monkeypox outbreak was likely a random event that might be traceable to a single infection.
He emphasized that the disease was unlikely to trigger widespread transmission.
“This is not COVID,” he said. “We need to slow it down, but it does not spread in the air, and we have vaccines to protect against it.”
Cawthorn inquiry: The House Ethics Committee is investigating allegations that Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn had a conflict of interest in a cryptocurrency he promoted and engaged in an improper relationship with a member of his staff, the panel said Monday.
The investigation is just the latest moment of high-profile scrutiny for the North Carolina Republican, who will be leaving Congress at the end of the year after losing his primary race last week to state Sen. Chuck Edwards. Cawthorn’s defeat came despite support for his reelection bid from former President Donald Trump.
Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from Texas, and Rep. Michael Guest, a
Republican from Mississippi, will lead the review of Cawthorn. The panel cautioned that the opening of the investigation does not mean that he violated House rules.
Buffalo funeral: Katherine “Kat” Massey, 72, was laid to rest Monday as mourning continued for victims of the racist attack at a supermarket in Bufalo, New York.
Massey worked for 40 years at the health insurance company Blue Cross Blue Shield, retiring in 2011.
Massey was among the 10 Black people killed May 14 when a white gunman in body armor targeted shoppers and workers at a Tops Friendly Market in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo. Three others were injured in the attack, which federal authorities are investigating as a hate crime.
Additional funerals for the victims are planned throughout the week.
The alleged gunman,
Payton Gendron, 18, of Conklin, has been charged with murder and is being held without bail.
Slaying in Tehran: Iran’s hard-line president vowed revenge Monday over the killing of a senior Revolutionary Guard member gunned down in the heart of Tehran the day before, a still-mysterious attack on the country’s powerful paramilitary force.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hailed Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei as a martyr and blamed “the hand of global arrogance,” a reference to the United States and its allies, including Israel, for his slaying.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the killing, carried out Sunday afternoon by two unidentified gunmen on a motorbike. They shot Khodaei five times in a car.
But the style of the brazen attack bore the hallmarks of previous slayings in Iran blamed on Israel, such as
those targeting the country’s nuclear scientists.
While Iran has yet to offer any definitive biographic information on Khodaei, Israeli media Sunday night ran stories alleging Khodaei had organized plots against Israeli diplomats, businesspeople and other foreign officials abroad.
The news reports, all of which ran without attribution, suggest Israeli intelligence officials briefed journalists on the Iranian colonel.
Turkish threat: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Monday to launch a new military operation in Syria to secure Turkey’s southern border.
Speaking following a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan said the aim of the operation would be to resume Turkish efforts to create a 20-mile safe zone along its border with Syria.
Turkish forces have launched three major incursions into northern Syria,
taking control of areas along the border in a bid to secure its frontier from threats from the Islamic State group and Kurdish militia group, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG.
Turkey views the group as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK that is listed as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The PKK has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict.
Mideast misery: A sandstorm blanketed parts of the Middle East on Monday, including Iraq, Syria and Iran, sending people to hospitals and disrupting flights in some places.
It was the latest in a series of nearly back-to-back sandstorms this year that have bewildered residents and raised alarm among experts and officials, who blame climate change and poor governmental regulations.