As monkeypox cases continue to spread, a detailed analysis of monkeypox case records published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers new insight into the outbreak, which is disproportionately affecting men who have sex with men, especially those who are Black and Hispanic.
It’s important that communities of color and those already infected have access to testing, treatment, and vaccines Dr. Jonathan Colasanti, an infectious disease specialist, says.
“A few weeks ago when this was circulating in Europe, this wasn’t even being talked about in our communities of color. And I think there was an initial perception that this was in, largely white communities and white, gay and MSM (men having sex with men) communities,” says Colasanti, who is also the medical director of Grady Memorial Hospital’s Ponce De Leon Center, a comprehensive program dedicated to serving those living with or affected by HIV.
In Georgia, monkeypox is infecting an overwhelming number of Black people compared to other races.
“…I just want our folks here at home to know that that’s absolutely not the case. … And at this point in Atlanta, (monkeypox is) very heavily concentrated within communities of color, based on the early epidemiologic data we have.”
Confirmed cases in Georgia had climbed to 749 including eight women, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health., although the actual number is likely far higher.
Of the 74% of the cases reported in the data, the racial breakdown shows: 82% were Black people, 14% were white, and under 1% were Asian; multiracial and “other” accounted for a total of about 3%. The total includes 6% Hispanic people.
Across the United States, the numbers aren’t much different.
Among the cases with available data, 94% were in men who reported recent sexual or close intimate contact with another man. More than half (54%) of cases were among Black and Hispanic people, a group that represents about a third (34%) of the general US population. The share of cases among Black people has grown in recent weeks, according to the CDC analysis.
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Why the disparity?
Blacks have longstanding racial and ethnic disparities in access to care for everything from HIV to COVID-19, according to Dr. Felipe Lobelo, an epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanent of Georgia and an associate professor at the Emory University School of Public Health. He says the racial breakdown is “unacceptable but unfortunately not surprising.”
“But as with COVID, social determinants of health are going to continue to