“I first fully recognized it and noticed the condition on Friday, June 17,” Ford told CNN from a county-ordered quarantine at his home in Los Angeles.
He wanted to go to New York’s pride last week. “But it wasn’t on the card,” he said.
In the video, Ford talks about how the virus spreads and shows some of his lesions.
Ford said he was vaguely aware of the monkeypox outbreak through Twitter, but did not know how close he was to the outbreak until a friend informed him that Ford might have been exposed.
Ford said he soon started doing a full body check.
“I noticed some spots that I hadn’t noticed before,” Ford said. Ford, 30, had spots that looked like acne and ingrown hair, so he went to a clinic in West Hollywood to test.
Ford said the doctor took the swab and a few days later the monkeypox test returned positive.
Ford actually said the test only confirmed what was new. The spot he found no longer looked like acne.
“They will soon grow and fill up,” he said, and they felt pain in the spots, especially in the more sensitive areas.
He also said he felt like he had the flu.
People with monkeypox may develop fever, headache, myalgia, chills, swollen lymph nodes, and feel tired. He also said he had night sweats, a sore throat and a cough.
Some of the lesions were so painful that he returned to the doctor who gave him painkillers.
“It really helped me because I was finally able to sleep all night,” Ford said. “But even painkillers didn’t completely paralyze it. It just made me bear enough to get back to sleep.”
In the video, Ford is clearly spoken because he looks directly at the camera and warns others.
“Hello, my name is Matt. I have monkeypox, this is terrible, and you wouldn’t want it,” Ford tells his viewers.
He visited some of the 25 lesions and pointed to spots on the face, arms and abdominal muscles.
“These aren’t really cute,” he emphasizes.
The disease is more common in Central and West Africa, but this current outbreak has hit countries that have rarely been seen, if any, in the past.
The county confirmed in an email to CNN on Thursday that it would send quarantine orders to those who tested positive for monkeypox. Ford said he received an email notification from the county on June 24th.
Last Friday, LA County confirmed that several incidents were between gay and bisexual men. Some of the men attended some big events. The county said it was working with the organizers to inform attendees of possible exposures.
Since Ford first told his friends that he had monkeypox, others have informed him that they were also ill.
Concerned that enough people didn’t know about it, Ford came up with the idea of doing a TikTok video and sharing it.
“It became clear to me because it turned out to be spreading rapidly,” Ford said. “That’s a big reason I’m trying to raise awareness about it.”
The response to the video was “great,” he said. He was encouraged because some people told him he didn’t know about it and thanked them for spreading the word.
Ford also hopes that the video will help end the stigma that accompanies the illness.
“There must be no stigma,” Ford said. “It’s just a bad event.”
“In many cases, I think silence is the enemy,” Ford added. “I am happy to be able to inform people. I hope more people will be safe.”
Source: www.cnn.com
