Part of the gay community in Spain has come to terms with abstinence to protect themselves from monkeypox.

AT Spainexperiencing the world’s largest outbreak of monkeypox, lack of vaccine bears part gay communitymost affected, change their sexual habits by practicing abstinence or limiting the number of sexual partners.

“This monkey thing has been too run down, I prefer to take care of myself a little until vaccinate and have little immunity,” says Antonio, a 35-year-old man from Madrid who did not want to give his last name and admits to radically changing his habits.

This thirty-year-old, who often liked to go to nightclubs, and sometimes sex partiesstopped doing so after seeing the evolution of the epidemic in his country.

Spain, with 3738 cases according to the latest report from World Health Organization (WHO) and the first two deaths in Europe, it is the most affected country in the world, ahead of USA (3478).

But Spain’s health ministry has counted many more cases, 4,298 as of this Saturday.

Antonio is so worried that “I didn’t do anything in the pride,” he says, laughing nervously.

Before going on vacation abroad, 38-year-old Pablo (not his real name) also avoided “risk situations to try not to contract” the disease.

“What I did was refrain from going to places of sex, refrain from sex”, explain.

This 30-year-old pharmaceutical industry man who doesn’t have a regular partner explains that the risk is higher at sex places where “you don’t even know what they’re called or anything, so you can’t tell them.” or.”

This predisposition to chastity seems to be quite widespread in LGBT communityas confirmed by other men interviewed by AFP but who declined to leave their testimony due to the sensitivity of the matter.

WHO advised “men who have intercourse with men” to reduce the number of sexual partners they have so they “can contact them” if they develop symptoms and so they can self-isolate.

The organization launched its highest alert on July 23 to try to control the disease.

In Spain, local associations made this call before WHO.

Vaccine shortage

“It doesn’t look like covid, the vaccine is already there, you don’t have to invent it (…) If it wasn’t a queer disease, there would certainly have been many more and much faster actions,” says Antonio. .

Like other members gay communitybelieves that the authorities did not take into account the scale of the problem.

NGOs denounce the lack of prevention, lack of vaccines and stigmatization.

It took Antonio three weeks to sign up for the vaccination, and he had to go to the official website every day at midnight.

“You have to run to catch them,” as if it were “Beyoncé’s next gig,” says another man.

Until the date Spain he received only the first 5300 doses, which arrived at the end of June.

When contacted by the Spanish Ministry of Health, AFP declined to comment on the matter.

just like AIDS

For Nahum Cabrera, from the federation FELGTBI+ it’s urgent vaccinate people at high risk, not only homosexuals, i.e. “people who often visit places with sexual questions, places of exchange of couples, saunas LGBT”.

“We don’t want to create false security among the heterosexual population, because all people are susceptible to this disease,” he notes.

In his opinion, the age group to which the vaccination should be directed is between 18 and 46 years, since Spain has already been vaccinated against smallpox until the 1970s, when the virus had not yet disappeared from Europe.

“We are facing a health emergency (…) in the LGBT community and it seems like a minority,” says Ivan Zaro, vice president of the NGO Imagina MÁS.

“The same thing is happening or happened 40 years ago with HIV”, he assures.

Javier spent three days in the hospital in early July after being infected.

After three weeks of isolation, he raises awareness among those around him.

“I warn everyone: “I have this, be careful.” It’s an infectious disease,” he recalls.

The 32-year-old cameraman, who lives in a monogamous relationship and doesn’t know how he contracted the disease, says the disease “can catch anyone.”

AFP