AN mpox patient had 75 sexual partners in three weeks before developing symptoms of the skin infection, a study shows. A new study examining the spread of mpox in Ireland between 2022 and 2023 documented the number of sexual encounters people had before getting a fever and rash, highlighting one impressive outlier. Though the average amount of sexual partners people had in the 21 days before their symptoms started was around two, one busy mpox patient certainly seems to have surpassed that number.
The person reported being intimate with an astounding 75 people leading up to their mpox infection. Mpox is a viral infection that causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Until a few years ago most cases of it were reported in central and west Africa, but the UK and other countries saw an influx of infections in May 2022.
Between May 3,700 cases of mpox have been identified in the UK since 7 May 2022. Most mpox cases are mild, causing fever, muscle aches, shivering and exhaustion, followed by a rash of fluid-filled blisters that often begins on the face. The infections tend to spread through close physical contact - such as during sex, kissing or cuddling - as well as sharing towels and bedding or from the coughs and sneezes of an infected person.
But health officials have recently warned of a mutant mpox variant tearing through central Africa that can be passed on through everyday touch alone. Dubbed the "most dangerous strain of mpox yet", it's left hundreds dead and prom.
