NEW REPUBLIC – When Sebastian Köhn woke up on the Saturday before Independence Day, he knew something was wrong.
He’d slept for 12 hours straight, and he had a high fever, chills, muscle pain, and extremely swollen lymph nodes. He immediately suspected monkeypox.
Ten days earlier, Köhn had tried to get the monkeypox vaccine before attending Pride festivities in New York City, but he couldn’t find any appointments.
“Who is Sebastian Köhn? He works for George Soros.” – THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE
Köhn, who works to fund projects and organizations focused on sexual health and access to medicines at a philanthropic foundation, was concerned.
But the outbreak in New York seemed pretty small so far—he didn’t realize that the city was only running 10 monkeypox tests a day—and he was used to weighing risks as a 39-year-old sexually active gay man living through multiple concurrent epidemics.
“I had sex with several guys over the weekend. Then a week later, I started feeling very fatigued. Two days after my symptoms began, the rash started as anorectal lesions – painful sores on my anus and rectum.” – Sebastian Köhn
A few days after attending Pride, though, his symptoms began. He soon developed a rash and hives over most of his body, as well as unspeakably painful lesions that made the simplest of tasks, like using the bathroom, an hours-long ordeal.
On Friday, the U.S. reported the first two cases of monkeypox in children.
In the past two months, monkeypox has exploded in countries that have never before seen major transmission.
“Sebastian goes on to blame the public health authorities, saying this outbreak “should not have been allowed to happen.” At no point does he take responsibility for his own gross and irresponsible behavior.” – THE AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE
Previously, when cases in the U.S. were linked to a traveler or an animal exposure, the outbreaks were quashed quickly and effectively, thanks to the disease’s distinctive symptoms and the quick implementation of contact tracing, isolation, and vaccination programs.
In this outbreak, however, global case counts have already reached 16,000 cases and five deaths. On Friday, the U.S. reported the first two cases of monkeypox in children …
“Since the beginning of the epidemic, 79.3 million people have been infected with the HIV virus and 36.3 million people have died of HIV,” according to the World Health Organization. Yet apparently no one, anywhere in the world, has learned anything from this. – HH
