Misleading information in the media, and especially social media, could further fuel public anxiety, as was the case with Ebola in 2014. In addition, the public health measures required, such as isolation procedures, healthcare workers suited up in personal protective equipment, and rigorous investigations and contact tracing, are all reminiscent of interventions an authoritarian police-state might use for some crime. This “germ panic” is further heightened by the off-putting visible disfigurements caused by the infection, even if only temporarily. In part, this is due to its “exotic” nature, the fear of contagion, and the perception that it is spreading quickly and invisibly in the population.
Strange new infectious diseases that the public is unfamiliar with, such as monkeypox, can generate a disproportionate degree of fear in the population. It has attracted a morbid interest from the public and media. Since then, further cases have been reported in over a dozen countries where the disease is not normally present, including several European countries, Israel, the US and Canada, as well as Australia. The person in question had recently returned to the UK from Nigeria, where they are believed to have contracted the infection. The first case of monkeypox in the current outbreak was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 7.
