| The specimens were unlikely, and the collection methods may have been unorthodox, but tests on almost 21,000 condoms discarded in 16 countries have yielded important findings on the way mpox spreads. For a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases last month, sanitary workers and members of the public plucked used prophylactics from waste bins in brothels, toilets, parks, office blocks, shopping malls, motels, gas stations and entertainment venues. The rubbers were collected in Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Madagascar, Maldives, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam from December of last year through this April — after a global mpox outbreak that began in 2022 had already receded. That epidemic affected mainly men who have sex with men. Now, as cases rebound in cities like Melbourne and Sydney, and a new fast-spreading variant sparks another global health emergency, the research is shedding light on the way mpox is transmitted through sexual networks, both locally and internationally. Mpox, caused by infection with the monkeypox virus, is predominantly transmitted by skin-to-skin contact, including through sex. The routes to infection are numerous and include semen from an infected person, lesions on the penis, vagina, or rectum, and potential contamination from the mouth or throat during oral sex. It's difficult to know whether condoms act as a barrier which prevents the virus from spreading, the researchers said. Still, testing them for mpox and other sexually-transmissible infections is a potentially useful way to conduct community surveillance, especially since mpox lesions can be sparse, inside the body, and often mistaken for syphilis, herpes and other conditions. By analyzing the virus's genetic sequence, the scientists recognized specific mutations that enabled them to trace the pathogen's spread across countries. That revealed distinct routes of transmission including between India, Nepal, and Pakistan, and between Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Laos, and Indonesia. Overall, the researchers found mpox positivity was highest in India (2.7% of condoms tested), Pakistan (2.3%), and Thailand (2.1%), and lowest in Nepal (0.6%), Papua New Guinea (0.8%), and the Maldives (0.8%). Further tests enabled the scientists to measure the risk of co-transmission of mpox with other infections, especially genital herpes, HIV, hepatitis C virus, and gonorrhea — highlighting how mpox surveillance and prevention may assist with the control of other conditions. "Our findings demonstrate for the first time the usefulness of used condoms as an indirect surveillance tool for mpox transmission and community mpox co-occurrence with other sexually transmitted diseases," the authors said. —Jason Gale | 
No comments:
Post a Comment