A CDC page providing mpox prevention guidance was removed from the website. The guidance described how mpox spreads through prolonged skin-to-skin contact and advised avoiding environments such as nightclubs and sex parties while reducing the number of sexual partners. Public health experts and LGBTQ+ advocates said the removal was politically motivated and further damaged trust in public health information. An HHS spokesperson said the page was not medically accurate and did not align with administration priorities. Experts said the guidance was evidence-based and medically vetted, including through CDC scientific clearance. They said data linked commercial sex venues and multiple sex partners to mpox and that the removed document was the only one acknowledging those links and providing actionable steps.
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed a page from its website that featured guidance on how to avoid contracting mpox that spoke implicitly to the LGBTQ+ community. The removal has sparked outrage among public health experts and LGBTQ+ advocates, who say the page was deleted for political reasons and represents a further erosion of trust in public health information under the Trump administration, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community."
"A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) claimed that the page "was not medically accurate" and that it did not "align with Administration priorities," according to both The Advocate and . But experts say the information on the mpox page - which noted that the virus spreads through prolonged skin-to-skin contact and advised readers to avoid environments like nightclubs and sex parties and to reduce their number of sexual partners - is evidence-based and medically vetted."
"Demetre Daskalakis, chief medical officer at New York City's Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, told STAT News that the guidance "went through CDC scientific clearance." Daskalakis, the former director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, served as deputy coordinator for the Biden White House's national response to the 2022 mpox outbreak, which disproportionately affected gay and bisexual men. "Providing advice to people that is actionable is what public health should do, and we did that," he said."
""Our data says that commercial sex venues and multiple sex partners are potentially linked to mpox. So the only document that we have that actually acknowledges that and says what to do about it is gone," Daskalakis told the Advocate. According to the outlet, a spokesperson for HHS would not explain what"
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