A Viral Colonial Legacy: HIV, Monkeypox Emerged Due to Ongoing Colonial Viral Neglect - Contagionlive.com

Similar to HIV, the colonial and postcolonial history is fundamental to the biology of this monkeypox outbreak.

We argue that both the current MPX outbreak and the ongoing HIV pandemic proceed from the same flawed premise, in which we can separate the health of Black African individuals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Nigeria from the health of the communities we consider closer to home.

Today, HIV among those with hemophilia is essentially nonexistent; structural factors render HIV still a crisis among queer and Black individuals, especially in the rural South, because of poor health care access.4.

It emerged in the region between Cameroon and the Congo and was first transmitted in an urban population under colonial rule in the Belgian Congo.

HIV emerged in the Congo under Belgian rule between the 1920s and 1940s as a virus that largely impacted rural communities until the infrastructure and labor needs put in place by the Belgian lead to wider spread, especially in Kinshasa.6 This viral spread, which certainly included the deaths of many young individuals who were otherwise healthy, was entirely unnoticed by the biomedical infrastructure such as it was under Belgian rule.

At independence, the Congo had exactly 0 Congolese doctors, engineers, or lawyers, according to the New York Times.7 Under explicitly racist colonial rule, Belgium forbade the Congolese from getting an education beyond the fifth grade.

Similar to HIV, the colonial and postcolonial history is in Europe—largely but not exclusively queer sexual and social networks—has shocked many.

Given our expertise in molecular microbiology and our knowledge of colonial history, we were not shocked.

The colonial and postcolonial history is fundamental to the biology of this ongoing pandemic.

MPX was identified in 1958, and its human infection characterized in 1970 in the Congo (then Zaire).10 According to our imperfect epidemiology, it killed mostly children in the Congo and spread to Nigeria throughout the 1970s.10 In 2003, there was an outbreak in the United States, affecting at least 47 patients.11?

Yet most deaths have occurred in Africa, where since 2017, Nigeria has faced another outbreak that includes consistent human-to-human spread for the first time on record.12 Because of the similarity between MPX and smallpox, effective vaccines existed even before MPX was discovered in humans in 1970?

Similar to HIV, the colonial and postcolonial history is fundamental to the biology of this MPX outbreak.

When the first human MPX case was discovered in 1970, the Congo’s national health infrastructure was barely 10 years old.

At the same time, travel between Congo (the colonized country) and Belgium (the former colonial power) has been common for decades.

A Nigerian doctor noticed the change in transmission through sexual encounters in 2017, and he “tried to warn health officials and scientists repeatedly,” he later told reporters from NPR.14 All the while, the US federal government let 20 million doses of its vaccine expire in a warehouse15; none of those doses were considered for use in the endemic region.

The emergence of MPX into new social and sexual networks in Europe—largely but not exclusively queer sexual and social networks—has shocked many.

Given our expertise in molecular microbiology and our knowledge of colonial history, we were not shocked.

The pattern of viral emergence in Africa and the spread among queer social and sexual networks is not biological.

Both HIV and MPX spread in queer sexual networks after their emergence in the Global North.

The US government has been reluctant to respond to MPX, even as cases in queer individuals rose precipitously, deciding to activate only a small portion of MPX vaccines in response to this actual threat out of fear for a theoretical smallpox bioterrorism event.18 The World Health Organization panel recommended against labeling MPX a public health emergency because the virus was “only” spreading in men who have sex with men (MSM).19 Ignoring the suffering of a marginalized community dehumanizes them and normalizes their pain.

Not only does narrowing that lens lead to our own peril because our social and sexual networks are interconnected, but it is also inhumane to imagine that individuals in certain parts of the world populated by people of color may suffer from preventable illnesses, whereas the West, which is populated by a White majority, ought not.

Clinical characterization of human monkeypox infections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Sensitive next-generation sequencing method reveals deep genetic diversity of HIV-1 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Accessed August 15, 2022.

A systematic review of the epidemiology of human monkeypox outbreaks and implications for outbreak strategy.

Human monkeypox, 1970-79.

Bull World Health Organ.1980;58(2):165-182.

Spectrum of infection and risk factors for human monkeypox, United States, 2003.

Reemergence of human monkeypox in Nigeria, 2017.

Major increase in human monkeypox incidence 30 years after smallpox vaccination campaigns cease in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He discovered the origin of the monkeypox outbreak — and tried to warn the world.

Accessed August 15, 2022.

The CDC is sending monkeypox vaccines to people at high risk in a race to prevent the spread.

Accessed August 15, 2022

The 2022 Monkeypox Outbreak: Insights from around the World

Accessed August 15, 2022

Accessed August 15, 2022

As monkeypox spread in New York, 300,000 vaccine doses sat in Denmark

Accessed August 15, 2022

Second meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee regarding the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox

Accessed August 15, 2022

A Viral Colonial Legacy: HIV, Monkeypox Emerged Due to Ongoing Colonial Viral Neglect