New Delhi: American actor Matt Ford has become the first person to be publicly infected with monkeypox.
In a series of tweets, Ford, a self-employed actor who splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City, said the disease “sucks” because he is unable to “sleep through the night.”
monkeypox psahttps://t.co/yWfVLk8rwz pic.twitter.com/GCCPZoQ5cw— Matt Ford (@JMatthiasFord) June 27, 2022
He also criticized the US government for its slow response to the virus that has infected more than 142 people in the country.
“The government needs to accelerate vaccines and testing. A slow response is pretty much unacceptable,” Ford said.
Ford said he was exposed to the virus through “skin-to-skin contact” and got symptoms a week after being infected in Los Angeles.
From “just a couple bumps”, he developed an “acute” “fever, chills, sweating, fatigue”.
Once the flu-like symptoms subsided, more “itchy and painful” spots appeared at various places on his body.
Ford’s doctor advised him to undergo a swab culture test, which was sent to the Department of Public Health to confirm that it was positive.
Ford, who describes himself as an “openly proud gay man,” said that some people had reported mild infections, but “the exposure web I’m attached to has some serious symptoms. I Currently struggling to sleep at night”.
She also revealed the spots to occur in and around her ‘underwear zone,’ and they later spread to the rest of her body, including her face, arms, arms and abdomen, BuzzFeed reported.
In total, she developed 25 spots that “filled with pus” and became itchy.
Many – especially in the “sensitive area” – became so painful that they made him unable to sleep at night without painkillers.
“I think overall I counted 25 and there are also some of the more sensitive areas that tend to be the most painful. They are so painful that I had to go to my doctor to take pain relievers to sleep, like Really f****** painful,” Ford was quoted as saying.
According to federal health officials, Ford also urged people to get vaccinated, even as the government plans to immediately release 56,000 doses of the Genios vaccine in areas where monkeypox transmission rates are high, with more to come. There are an additional 240,000 doses in the following weeks.
Ford wrote on Twitter, “I have monkeypox at the moment and this shit is absolutely no joke. Get vaccinated for it if you can and be careful, especially New Yorkers with Pride.”