One of the dangers of being sucked into the whirlpool of mass hysteria is that common sense grows wings and flies away. Everybody becomes a fear-monger, and every suspicious behaviour attracts the madding crowd whose survival has come under threat, just like a fire attracts flies. Historically speaking, there are two distinct conditions that act as fuel to mass hysteria: War and epidemic.
Meanwhile, it would be useful to define the term. In sociology and psychology, M. S. Wolf, in his treatise, Witchcraft and Mass Hysteria in Terms of Current Psychological Theories, defines mass hysteria as a phenomenon that transmits collective illusions of threats, whether real or imaginary, through a population and society as a result of rumours and fear. In medicine, a common type of mass hysteria occurs when a group of people believes that they have a similar disease or ailment, sometimes referred to as “mass sociogenic illness” or epidemic hysteria.
The advent of social media has made humanity susceptible to mass hysteria. During the Ebola virus disease outbreak of 2014, people woke up one morning to hear that drinking saltwater was the authoritative cure for Ebola. Many actually became fatally ill while trying to carry out this strange prescription which was inspired by mass hysteria. Some others said if you abstained from bathing your body, the virus would not enter your system. Laughable, right? But many obeyed.
This was also the case during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many, including well-educated citizens, believed it was purposely introduced to the world by a Satanic cabal as part of their preparation for the global Antichrist takeover. Others, without evidence, said it was manufactured in a Chinese laboratory.
Similarly, now that Monkeypox is here, we are faced with yet another mass hysteria in the offing. This time around, it may be worse than the others because the world is still busy trying to totally contain the COVID-19, while also frantically absorbing the shocks emanating from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Yet, this is not the first time Monkeypox is bringing down the house. In 2017, while some cases were detected in Nigeria, all hell was let loose. Then, on this column, I penned an article entitled Turning monkeypox into monkey business, discussing how, at the outbreak in South-East Nigeria, logic was turned on its head and common sense took a drive into the bushes. It was at the height of the Indigenous People of Biafra’s agitation. The social media went viral with the accusation that Nigerian soldiers in the region were forcefully injecting some primary and secondary school students with poisonous substances allegedly causing the dreaded Monkeypox.
Just as the news broke like a whirlwind, the parents and guardians rushed into the streets the same afternoon, and entered the schools to pressurise the school authorities to allow them take away their children and wards before they could be “injected with the virus.” The story was the same in Imo, Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu states. Within hours, almost all schools in the states were shut and the brouhaha continued on the social media: The Army was using a so-called medical exercise to depopulate the South-East!
That was 2017. Fast-forward to 2022, and what we have today is just like a déjà vu. Just yesterday, it was reported that the United States of America denied social media speculations that the US-controlled laboratories are being used to spread Monkeypox in Nigeria.
The embassy in a statement, titled, U.S.-Nigeria collaboration on infectious disease threats, said, “Recent misleading posts on social media wrongly speculate on the origin of the current global outbreak of Monkeypox disease and supposedly call for the World Health Organisation to investigate the so-called ‘U.S.-controlled laboratories’ in Nigeria. Such reports are pure fabrication. There is zero merit to any allegations regarding the use of US-assisted Nigerian laboratories in the spread of Monkeypox. Furthermore, there are no “US-controlled” laboratories in Nigeria. These falsehoods detract from the work that the United States, in close coordination with Nigeria and multilateral partners, accomplish together on public health that includes disease surveillance, diagnosis, prevention, and control.”
In the meantime, there is yet another concern, which is more dangerous than the first discussed above. In a country that is already biased against gay rights, the emerging evidence that Monkeypox may have links to sexual behaviour may inadvertently trigger a witch-hunt against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community. Already a marginalised sub-group in our region, the LGBTI could easily fall victim to the looming mass hysteria. This is because mankind has a penchant for looking for scapegoats in situations it cannot understand or control.
The World Health Organisation, on its official website, confirmed that the present outbreak of Monkeypox has a link to sexual orientation. Some of us may be wondering why the WHO would put out such information in the public space instead of covering it, considering the emotions it could trigger. However, we must remember that the WHO is a scientific organisation. It has no right to be politically correct or to pander to people’s fears and emotions. It is then expected that the world’s regional scientific communities process WHO’s resources for effective containment of the said health emergencies.
For the avoidance of doubt, on May 29 (four days ago), the WHO wrote on its official website, www.who.int, “Since 13 May 2022, Monkeypox has been reported to WHO from 23 member states that are not endemic for Monkeypox virus, across four WHO regions. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing. The vast majority of reported cases so far have no established travel links to an endemic area and have presented through primary care or sexual health services. The identification of confirmed and suspected cases of Monkeypox with no direct travel links to an endemic area is atypical.
“Early epidemiology of initial cases notified to WHO by countries shows that cases have been mainly reported amongst men who have sex with men. One case of Monkeypox in a non-endemic country is considered an outbreak. The sudden appearance of Monkeypox simultaneously in several non-endemic countries suggests that there may have been undetected transmission for some time as well as recent amplifying events.”
The term “MSM” has a widespread, accepted use to mean “men who have sex with men.” While originally a public health term to accurately capture behavioural risk rather than a cultural identity (i.e., gay), it now is recognised throughout the public health, medical, psychological and LGBT communities as a standard abbreviation. But for us in a religion-soaked society, this may actually become a problematic disclosure. We already face clerics and citizens who insist that accepting gay rights in our country could call down the wrath of God upon us because “God is angry at same-sex intimacy.” Therefore, one can only imagine the narrative that could be woven around a Monkeypox that spreads through homosexuality.
My take is that we must keep our eye on the ball. The appearance of the Monkeypox in non-endemic countries is quite worrying, but there are protocols for engagement and eventual containment. The good news is that as of May 26, of the cumulative total of 257 laboratory-confirmed cases and around 120 suspected cases, no deaths have been reported. And for the endemic countries in the African region, which Nigeria falls, there is the need to revert to the strategies we deployed during the Ebola days. Thus, the Federal Government should not only ban bush meat, as it has done but should also employ more environmental health officers to man our ports of entry. It should also improve our public health infrastructure in order to support the rudimentary services of extensive case finding and contact tracing, laboratory investigation, clinical management and case isolation.
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All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
