2022 Monkeypox Outbreak

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About

2022 Monkeypox Outbreak refers to reports of the infectious disease monkeypox, typically found in Central and West Africa, spreading across areas of Europe, the U.S. and Canada in 2022. A case of monkeypox was confirmed in England in May 2022 and spread to Portugal, Spain and Canada over the course of the month. The spread of the disease inspired conversation and fear that monkeypox would become a pandemic, especially due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The reports also inspired monkeypox memes, often based around apes and COVID-related conspiracy theories.

History

Symptoms of Monkeypox

Monkeypox typically lasts two to four weeks. Symptoms typically show up around 10 days after exposure. Monkeypox causes swollen lymph nodes, headaches, fevers muscle pain and fatigue, followed by a rash. The rash creates blisters, which crust over.^[2] Monkeypox is often mild but may be fatal, usually killing around one in 10 people who contract it. The string of monkeypox spreading in 2022 is weaker than average.^[3] Monkeypox spreads person-to-person via droplets and by direct contact with skin lesions. The smallpox vaccine is 85% effective in preventing monkeypox^[15] (stages of monkeypox shown below).

Past Outbreaks

Monkeypox was first found in humans in 1972 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.^[1] In May 2003, an outbreak of monkeypox occurred in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after a boy was bitten by a prairie dog that he bought at a swap meet, resulting in 71 cases of the disease by June 21st and no deaths.^[4] In 2017, Nigeria experienced a monkeypox outbreak.^[5] In September 2018, the first case of monkeypox was confirmed in the U.K. in a Nigerian traveller who purportedly contracted the disease before travelling to the U.K. The disease spread to at least three other people.^[6]^[7] In May 2021, three cases of monkeypox were confirmed in the U.K.^[8] In July 2021 a case of monkeypox was confirmed in Texas.^[9] In November 2021 a case was reported in Maryland.^[17] On November 19th, Instagram^[18] user foocey posted a meme about the Maryland case showing a sinister-looking ape smiling under the headline, gaining over 1,900 likes in six months and gaining spread (shown below).

2022 Outbreak

On May 14th, 2022, it was announced by gov.uk^[10] that there were nine cases of monkeypox found in the U.K. The site claims the cases were found "predominantly in gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men." Dailymail^[11] reported that the U.K. government was probing into whether or not monkeypox can spread through sex. On May 18th, it was reported that five cases of monkeypox were found in Portugal.^[12] On the same date, the Massachusetts government confirmed a case of monkeypox in a man who recently travelled from Canada. It was reported that day that seven suspected cases of monkeypox were being investigated in Montreal, Canada.^[13]

Online Presence / Reaction

Monkeypox became a widespread topic of concern following the increasing number of reports regarding its spread. On May 18th, the Washington Post^[14] published an article about monkeypox. On the same day, doctor and Twitter^[16] user @JohnRossMD shared a thread about monkeypox, offering tips on prevention, gaining over 3,600 likes and 1,200 retweets in a day. That day, Instagram^[19] user largetrap posted a meme about the outbreak using the Random Chimp Event and The Rock Eyebrow Raise memes, gaining over 66,000 likes in under a day (shown below).

Some people likened the spread of monkeypox to the COVID-19 pandemic, hypothesizing and fearing that the government might push for mandatory vaccines against it and use it to further a political agenda and restrict the freedoms of people (examples shown below).^[20]^[21] Twitter user @JordanSchachtel wrote, "Today, the U.S. govt just exercised purchase orders on 13 million Monkeypox vaccines" and shared an article by Bavarian-Nordic^[22] about how they're creating the first freeze-dried doses of smallpox vaccine. On May 19th, an anonymous 4chan user made a thread to /pol/^[23] titled "Monkeypox glows," suggesting it is a government psyop, "glow" being a reference to glowposting.