Even if monkeypox does not pose a mortal threat akin to HIV, health officials don’t want to ignore any emerging disease threat disproportionately affecting gay men. The strain of monkeypox driving the current outbreak is rarely deadly and causes an illness lasting several weeks, unlike AIDS, which is incurable and was often lethal before effective treatments emerged in the 1990s. Monkeypox disproportionately affects gay men Activists say public health officials failed to act with urgency as HIV decimated gay communities in the 1980s and gay men were blamed for the epidemic. The early days of the AIDS epidemic weigh on public health and LGBT advocates responding to monkeypox. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.