Clinicians and public health officials are responsible for furnishing correct advice to the public on how to guard themselves and those around them in the event of a contagious disease outbreak. Media coverage that focuses on sensation can cause the public to misjudge how new viral infections began and how they are communicated. This can lead to fear and prejudice, particularly in groups who already have reservations about the health care system. Hence, the social stigmas associated with monkeypox caused the World Health Organization to change its name to mpox in November 2022. I think that there is still much more that needs to be done to abolish the prejudice related to conditions like mpox. As an infectious disease specialist, I research HIV, COVID-19, as well as mpox. I served as the main researcher at the University of Pittsburgh for a survey with a national reach that assessed the impact of COVID-19 on various communities. Creating successful communication for public health purposes can be a challenge when numerous voices are providing disagreeing information, such as friends and relatives, other people in the community, or the web. Public health officials can make their communications more inclusive and avoid stigmatization by customizing their messages to specific target groups. This can expand the range of people the messages will reach. Chip Somodevilla’s Getty Images.
