Gay dating app Grindr has sent out messages to its users in Europe warning them about the monkeypox disease, with the current outbreak being linked by health officials to LGBTQ events on the continent.
Grindr, one of the world’s largest dating apps, has sent out an alert to its European user base warning them about an outbreak of the monkeypox virus.
Detailing some of the signs and symptoms of the disease, as well as how it is spread through person-to-person contact as well as contact with the likes of an infected person’s “clothes, bedding or sex toys”, the company is now also reportedly preparing a similar message for its users in America.
According to a report by The Telegraph, a “notable proportion” of people who have been infected with the virus in the most recent outbreak have been “men who have sex with other men”, with the World Health Organisation reportedly linking the outbreak to “risky sexual behaviour” at two raves in Belgium and Spain.
In the hopes of combatting the outbreak, the Grindr message — which was sent in 13 different languages — told its userbase of mostly “queer” people to contact their local health authorities, such as the socialised healthcare service the NHS for those residing in the UK.
British authorities are now engaged in contact tracing efforts regarding known cases, with a vaccine for the disease being available for those who have yet to show symptoms, which can take up to three weeks to develop.
Belgium Imposes Quarantine for Four Detected Cases of Monkeypoxhttps://t.co/nMg5dtv4Tw
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 24, 2022
While there is no known cure for the disease once symptoms set in, the virus — which is considered to be endemic in parts of Africa — usually only results in minor illness and often clears up between 6 and 13 days.
However, the disease poses a greater threat to children, and can occasionally result in severe illness.
As of writing, 79 cases of the disease have been reported detected in the United Kingdom, with Thursday seeing Wales and Northern Ireland confirming their first detected instances of the disease.
Meanwhile, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has reported a total of 118 confirmed cases of the virus within the European Union as of Wednesday.
In total, the organisation said yesterday that there were 219 cases of diseases worldwide in countries where monkeypox is not thought to be endemic.
“The clinical presentation is generally described to be mild, with most cases presenting with lesions on the genitalia or peri-genital area, indicating that transmission likely occurred during close physical contact during sexual activities,” the organisation reported while noting that there has yet to be any deaths.
“This is the first time that chains of transmission are reported in Europe without known epidemiological links to West or Central Africa,” the org continued. “These are also the first cases worldwide reported among [gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men].”
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