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Sweden registers second confirmed case of monkeypox

A second case of of monkey pox has been confirmed in Sweden, the Swedish Public Health Agency said on Wednesday.

Published: 26 May 2022 13:35 CEST

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention shows a monkeypox virion, obtained from a sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak.

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention shows a monkeypox virion, obtained from a sample associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. Photo: Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP

The person who has been confirmed as infected, is from Västra Götaland and is said to be well and is not being cared for in hospital.

The first case of monkey pox in Sweden was confirmed on Thursday last week.

“The current outbreak shows what appears to be a new route of transmission, which means that we are now building new knowledge. The recommendations will therefore be updated in connection with more information being added,” Sara Byfors, Head of Department at the Swedish Public Health Agency said.

The rare disease usually manifests itself through fever, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a rash on the hands and face.

Monkeypox typically has an incubation period of six to 16 days, but it can be as long as 21 days. Once lesions have scabbed over and fallen off, the person with the virus is no longer infectious.

Unlike Covid-19, you can only infect others when you yourself have symptoms. Infection can occur via the respiratory tract or close contact with body fluids.

Several dozen suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox have been detected since the beginning of May in Europe and North America.

Denmark has ordered thousands of vaccines against monkeypox, with the first 200 arriving from the Netherlands on Friday. The move comes following the first case of the virus in Denmark was reported on Monday and a second case early on Tuesday.

The vaccinations will be given to people who have been in close contact with those infected with the virus, although the Danish Health Ministry said risk to the general population remains very low.

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Six things we just learned about the sex lives of Swedes

In collaboration with pollsters Verian, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education (RFSU) quizzed just over 1,000 people in Sweden on how they feel about their sex lives.

It found that Swedes are generally happy with their sex lives, but are having less sex with partners than they used to. But that doesn’t have to be a negative, said RFSU.

“It could be because of several things. It could be that our lives are more stressful, but also that we prioritise other things these days. A third factor could be that we’ve got better at listening and allow each other to say no to sex when we don’t feel like it,” said RFSU expert Pelle Ullholm in a statement presenting the new study.

Few Swedes have sex more than once a week

Almost one third (32 percent) said they had had sex with a partner between one and five times in the past month. However, only nine percent said they had had sex between six and ten times, and six percent said they had had sex more than ten times.

Women have more sex than men – but men masturbate more

Exactly one in five (20 percent) women said they had not had any sex with a sexual partner in the past month, compared to 28 percent of male respondents.

When it comes to masturbation, 27 percent of men and 33 percent of women said they had masturbated between one and five times in the past month. But 18 percent of men said they had masturbated more than ten times, compared to only 2 percent of women.

Only 6 percent of men said they had not masturbated at all, compared to 25 percent of women.

Why do Swedes have sex?

Asked what need sex fulfils in their life right now, most people (58 percent) answered “intimacy”, followed by “it’s fun/hot” (45 percent), and “strengthening my relationship” (43 percent). Four percent said they’re having sex in order to have a baby.

Thirteen percent said sex doesn’t fulfil a need for them right now, or does so very little. This share was much higher among women (17 percent) than men (9 percent).

Swedes are happy with their sex lives

The majority of Swedes are happy with their sex lives, the study found, which suggests that the quality of the sex matters more than the quantity.

Women are happier than men: 54 percent of women said they were very or somewhat satisfied with their sex lives, compared to 48 percent of men.

And conversely, 28 percent of men said they were very or somewhat dissatisfied, compared to 18 percent of women.

The conversation around consent is changing

In 2018, Sweden introduced a so-called “consent law”, which changed the legal definition of rape. Under the new law, both participants need to have actively signalled consent either verbally or otherwise. That and the #MeToo movement have both been credited with changing how Swedes talk about sexual relations and consent.

Fourteen percent of women said their partner or partners had improved their communciation around sex as a result of the public discourse, compared to 8 percent of men. And 8 percent in total said it had made them act differently.

The majority (59 percent) said their communication was already good.

Sex is maybe not taboo, but still private

Despite the report by RFSU, and open Swedish attitudes towards sex in general, it appears people are still reluctant to talk about their own sex lives. Around one in five declined to answer the questions about how often they masturbated or had sex.

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