Matt Ford edits videos for a living, so it wasn’t hard for him to put one together for TikTok. But his last post wasn’t some crazy dance or video on how to peel a banana the right way.
It is based on his own experience with monkeypox. Their video It has been viewed some 250,000 times as of Friday afternoon. She posted it to help educate people about the virus outbreak, encourage people to get vaccinated, and make it very clear: “You don’t want this.”
Anyone can get monkeypox, but a “remarkable fraction” of cases in the global outbreak are among gay and bisexual men, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I first noticed and noticed the symptoms on Friday, June 17,” Ford told CNN from county-mandated isolation at his home in Los Angeles, where he will have to stay a few more weeks until he is no longer contagious.
I was hoping to go to Pride in New York last week. “But that wasn’t in the cards,” she said.
In the video, Ford talks about how the virus spreads and shows some of his injuries.
Monkeypox is spread when someone has direct contact with a person’s rash, scabs, or infectious body fluids. It can also be spread through respiratory secretions during prolonged face-to-face contact or by touching items that previously came in contact with the bodily fluids of someone who has been affected. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ford said he had been vaguely aware of an outbreak of monkeypox via Twitter, but did not know how close he had come to the outbreak until a friend reached out to inform him that Ford may have been exposed.
Ford said he immediately began doing a full body check.
“I noticed some spots that I hadn’t noticed before,” said Ford, 30. He said the spots looked like pimples or ingrown hairs, so he went to a clinic in West Hollywood to get tested.
Ford said a doctor took a sample and a few days later the test came back positive for monkeypox.
Ford said the test actually just confirmed what he already knew. The spots he found no longer looked like pimples.
“They quickly got bigger and fuller,” he said, and were painful, particularly the spots in the most sensitive areas.
He said he also felt like he had the flu.
People with monkeypox may develop a fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, swollen lymph nodes, and tiredness. He said he also had night sweats, a sore throat and a cough.
Some of the injuries were so painful that he went back to the doctor, who gave him painkillers.
“That was really helpful because I was finally able to sleep through the night,” Ford said. “But even the painkillers didn’t completely numb him. They just made it bearable enough that he could go back to sleep.”
In the video, Ford speaks clearly while looking directly into the camera and warning others.
“Hello, my name is Matt. I have monkeypox, this shit stinks and you don’t want it,” Ford tells his viewers.
Taking a tour of some of his 25 injuries, he points out his face, his arms and the spots on his abs.
“These really aren’t cute,” he says for emphasis.
While the disease is most commonly found in central and western Africa, this current outbreak has affected countries that have seen few, if any, cases in the past.
As of Friday, there have been 460 probable or confirmed cases in the US alone, according to the CDC. Monkeypox from the Los Angeles County Department of Health board He said he has 35 of the cases.
The county confirmed in an email to CNN Thursday that it is sending isolation orders to people who test positive for monkeypox. Ford said he received his email notice from the county on June 24.
Last Friday, Los Angeles County confirmed that some of the cases were among gay and bisexual men. Some of the men attended a handful of big events. The county said it has been working with organizers to notify attendees of a potential exhibit.
The county has already been offering the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine to people who have been exposed to other people who have had monkeypox. This week the The Biden administration announced measures to strengthen its response to the outbreak, detailing plans to offer more vaccines and tests to people who are most at risk.
Vaccines are in limited supply, but the administration said it would expand access in highest transmission areas. He said 56,000 doses would be available immediately, with 296,000 vaccine doses over the next few weeks and an additional 750,000 over the summer. On Friday, the administration ordered an additional 2.5 million doses.
Since Ford first told his friends that he was sick with monkeypox, others have let him know that they, too, have been sick.
Worried that there weren’t enough people about it, Ford came up with the idea of making the TikTok video and sharing it.
“It’s been clear to me since I got it that it’s spreading rapidly,” Ford said. “That’s a big reason why I’m trying to speak up and raise awareness about it.”
The reaction to the video has been “excellent,” he said. He has been buoyed up as several people have told him they didn’t know before and thanked him for spreading the word.
Ford also hopes the video can help break down the stigma associated with the disease.
“There shouldn’t be any stigma,” Ford said. “It’s just a bad turn of events.”
“A lot of times I think silence is the enemy,” Ford added. “I’m glad I can let people know and I hope more people are safe.”