Ultimately, Covid, HIV and the common cold don't discriminate. "For us at George House Trust, the important thing with this outbreak is that gay and bisexual men are looking after their health and being checked out. "“Monkeypox is a virus that can impact anyone," Chief Executive Darren Knight said. HIV charity George House Trust added it was important to stress that monkeypox doesn't discriminate. We’ve spent decades trying to separate HIV from gayness, Monkeypox risks undoing whatever little advances we’ve made.” It was the homophobia that made HIV the AIDS crisis: if it hadn’t been for the homophobia that prevented funding and proper healthcare, much fewer people would have died. “HIV gave these people a solid, concrete, excuse to act on that homophobia. HIV did not make people homophobic, people were already profoundly homophobic. This is what happened during the early days of AIDS - and still happens now with HIV. “Then, there is a very slippery slope to arguing that ‘gays’ brought it upon themselves. Gayness may become associated with promiscuity and risk-taking, or with recklessness even. So much reporting about it mentions saunas and gay parties. He explains: “There is a real risk that monkeypox will further stigmatize gay communities. Jaime, who is also the author of ‘From HIV to COVID-19: Viral Times’, said he believes this association could reverse the work done since the 80s through harmful stigma. And, further, it will make some people associate ‘gay’ with disease once again.” "Monkeypox is also very worrying because it will put sexual health services and public health services under enhanced pressure - when they are already hardly able to cope to begin with. It is a serious condition and, as such, community transmission like this is worrying-especially for those who could be most affected, such as those who are immunosuppressed. Anybody who has close contact and fluid exchange could get monkeypox. “However, this is not because of their sexuality - it is because they may have had more close contacts. Read more: Meet Nottingham's contemporary florist who spray paints flowers Jaime García-Iglesias, a research fellow at the University of Manchester said: "Men who have sex with men have been, so far, the biggest proportion of those affected." Manchester Evening News reports that a number of cases have been reported within the MSM community (men who have sex with men) as well as through sexual networks, monkeypox can be passed on just through close contact. It is thought to be a similar type of disease to small pox but is rarely seen outside of Western and Central Africa. The virus is transmitted between humans and animals where symptoms include fever, headaches and rashes. There are now over 100 reported cases in the UK. Over the past few weeks the worlds has seen a large number of cases of monkeypox and are spreading across Europe, Australia and America.