And because the virus prefers close physical contact as a means of transmission, it found a very suitable environment for which to propagate itself. What likely happened in this case is that somebody who had monkeypox had a lesion and showed up at a gay rave in Europe, and it spread to those in that social and sexual network. We have viral zoonoses that jump from animals to humans all the time. This is not a gay disease it has been circulating in West and Central Africa for many years. It’s an epidemiological accident of history. Why are many of the monkeypox cases in men who have sex with men?
