A homosexual sauna in Perth is offering free monkeypox vaccinations with cases on the rise across Australia.
Perth Steam Works, a male-only bathhouse which describes itself as a “safe and discreet place for men to meet men”, administers the vaccines once a week via a doctor on the premises, and offered a similar service during the 2022 outbreak of monkeypox, which authorities have tried to rebrand as mpox.
“It offers us the opportunity to speak to people who are most at risk and offer them the service,” owner Mike Drummond told ABC News, and said the program was anonymous.
“Making sure that privacy is not a barrier to offering medical services [is important]. It’s your choice whether you want it to go on your My Health Record. A lot of people who frequent venues such as this are not necessarily comfortable talking to their family GP about issues like this.”
According to its website Perth Steam Works also conducts STD and AIDS tests at its sexual health clinic, has a monthly “fluid night” that is open to “all genders”, screens X-rated movies, and provides free condoms and lubricant.
Western Australia has recorded 14 cases of monkeypox since August, with the majority of cases in Australia’s current outbreak detected in New South Wales and Victoria.
In 2024 there have been 1,330 cases across Australia, all but 9 in men. A male child aged between 5 and 9 has also been infected.
NSW has had the highest number of cases with 701, followed by 457 in Victoria, and 124 in Queensland.
Earlier this year Victorian authorities warned gay men to get vaccinated ahead of super-spreading “pride” events such as Melbourne’s Midsumma festival, and made the vaccine free for homosexuals and prostitutes.
Monkeypox is caused by infection with the mpox virus. Common symptoms include a rash, lesions or sores, fever, chills, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and sore throat.
The disease is mostly spread from person-to-person through prolonged physical or intimate contact.
The term “mpox” was introduced by the World Health Organisation in November 2022 to be used simultaneously with “monkeypox” for one year while the original name for the disease, in use since the 1970s, was phased out.
The WHO cited “racist and stigmatising language” for the move.
Earlier this year an Irish study found that a person infected with monkeypox had sex with 75 other individuals in just three weeks.
Research published in the Irish Medical Journal in June examined confirmed cases of monkeypox during an outbreak in Ireland between May 27 2022 and May 27 2023.
The study found that during the outbreak period there were 229 confirmed monkeypox cases, including 226 males and three females. The median number of sexual partners in the 21 days prior to onset was two, but at least one patient had sex with 75 other people during that period.
The study did not specify the sex or nationality of that individual, but of the 229 patients, three were heterosexual, 206 were homosexual, and 20 were unknown. 46.8% were born in Ireland, 32.3% in Latin America, 13.4% in Europe, and 7.5% elsewhere in the world.
Sexual transmission occurred in 96.5% of cases. 98.2% of cases reported male homosexual sex as their recent contact, while just three cases (1.8%) had heterosexual sex, an four patients did not have sex in the three weeks prior to onset.
28.3% of the patients were HIV positive, and 64% were on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
Header image credit: Left, Perth Steam Works. Right, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
