Chinese health officials reported 501 newly confirmed cases of monkeypox infections for the month of August, which for the first time included infections in women.
It’s the first time that infections in women have been included since China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began releasing monkeypox data in September last year.
Cases were from across 25 of 31 provinces and regions in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Henan, Chongqing, and others, China’s CDC stated on Sept. 8.
While 98.9 percent of the monkeypox cases were in males, and 92.5 percent were identified as affecting men who have sex with men, five of the cases were infections in women, all of whom had a history of heterosexual contact within 21 days from the onset of the illness. Among their heterosexual partners, three had been infected with monkeypox, one had recently had a rash, and one had had no symptoms related to the disease.
Cases Rise
In July, China's CDC said there were 491 new cases of monkeypox in 23 provinces and regions across mainland China, after reporting 106 new cases across six provinces and regions in June.
The number for August is a trending topic in online searches on mainland Chinese social media platforms. Netizens left comments such as “Wow, it’s still spreading!”
Another post read, ”It's increasing so fast."
One netizen asked in a post, ”Why are there so many all of a sudden?”
One Chinese man posted on TikTok about his symptoms which include excess hair loss within a month and diarrhea. That attracted 90 million views and comments expressing concerns about the rise of monkeypox infections in China.
“Although the Chinese communist regime officially admits that more than 90 percent of monkeypox cases in China occur among men who have sex with men, they may underreport the number of monkeypox cases based on the intention to conceal the total number of homosexuals in China,” Dr. Jonathan Liu, a professor at the Canadian College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and director of the Kangmei Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic, told The Epoch Times.
Dr. Liu said that in May 2022, the monkeypox epidemic suddenly appeared and quickly spread to Europe and the Americas, and then spread to all six regions managed by the World Health Organization, with 87,000 cases and 112 deaths being reported in 110 countries.
“This global epidemic primarily, but not exclusively, affects gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, and is spreading from person to person through sexual networks," he said.
