Monkeypox isn’t an STD in the traditional sense.
As the number of monkeypox cases keeps growing, a discussion has opened on whether it should be considered a sexually transmitted disease like herpes, gonorrhea, orMonkeypox is almost always spread through skin-to-skin contact and, in the West, many of the cases have occurred among men who have sex with men.
"My uneasiness about labeling it as an STD is that for most STDs, wearing a condom or avoiding penetration or direct oral-anal/oral-genital contact is a good way of preventing transmission," said Paul Hunter, MD, a professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia's Norwich School of Medicine.
Denise Dewald, MD, a pediatric specialist at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center in Ohio, says monkeypox is not an STD — but it could become an entrenched virus. One thing is certain: More and more people are getting monkeypox. It's been endemic in Western and Central Africa for years, and cases in Europe and North America were identified in May.