Health officials wary but not alarmed by monkeypox in Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- A possible first case of monkeypox in San Francisco won't stop people from enjoying major events this month include Pride celebrations. Health experts say it's too soon to be concerned about this virus over other infectious diseases already spreading in the Bay Area.
"I'm curious about monkeypox, I continue to be curious but I'm not concerned in the way that I'm concerned about other very transmissible diseases," said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine and an infectious disease specialist at UCSF. "This is generally a rare disease."
The San Francisco Department of Public Health confirmed Friday that the first probable case of monkeypox had been identified in a patient who was in isolation and in good condition. The patient has not reported any close contacts in the city during the time period when they could have spread the infection to others.
"How are we are going to deal with it? The way San Francisco always deals with it which is caring about other people," said Ed Mathews, a San Francisco resident.
Health officials explain that monkeypox can spread through respiratory droplets from breathing at a close range as well as sexual contact. Most people are able to recover from the disease on their own. In some cases, people develop a rash.
Dr. Chin-Hong says that recent cases show the rash is more subtle than in previous examples captured in pictures online. The rash may look like a sore at any spot on the body.
"I'm still not comfortable in a big, tight crowd, if the parade is open-air, great," said David Lipschultz, a San Francisco man walking along Castro Street with his wife. "Still acting like the normal concerns for COVID transmission but just knowing that we're safer."
As the Castro prepares for Pride, people in town this weekend said they're worried about COVID-19 more than any other disease and continue to follow necessary precautions for stopping the spread of that virus. Chin-Hong says that approach is wise as different infections have shared symptoms. He says anyone who is sick should avoid others until they are well.
"In the beginning, monkeypox, Influenza, COVID, they all look the same," he told KPIX.
In order to catch monkeypox from someone else's respiratory droplets, you would need to be in close contact with for about three hours. Chin-Hong says skin-to-skin contact is more transmissable and he advises people think about monkeypox as they would a sexually-transmitted infection but he repeats that you are far more likely to get COVID at this time. He says both diseases are reasons to wear a mask.
SF Pride organizers say they will discuss any potential concerns about monkeypox with city and health officials next week.
"If the science dictates we do the parade but we all have to wear masks, then we do that," Mathews told KPIX. "We take the precautions very seriously because we don't want that again."
Ahead of any potential stigma that could be attached to monkeypox as with COVID or HIV/AIDS, experts say it is still unclear how some communities became infected. Chin-Hong says the research should remain directed at what science tells us as we continue to learn more about the disease.
"It's really about the biology and we should really focus on the biology not the population or the person and we've learned that time and time again," he said.