Thursday 30 June 2022 06:15 PM America's first monkeypox patient to come forward is an actor from Los Angeles trends now
The first American monkeypox patient to go public with his battle against the tropical virus has slammed health officials for a 'lackluster' job of testing for the virus, which has left many cases undiagnosed.
Matt Ford, a self-employed actor who splits his time between Los Angeles and New York City, has spoken out to warn people that the disease 'sucks' and they should take it 'seriously.'
He blasted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for their poor testing efforts, saying it took officials three days to diagnose his illness by which point he 'already knew' what they would say.
Revealing his diagnosis to Buzzfeed, Ford said he caught the virus after having 'skin-to-skin contact' with another patient.
Matt Ford, from Los Angeles, is the first patient to come forward to talk about his monkeypox diagnosis. He is pictured above with three spots due to the virus on his face
The actor and writer, who describes himself as a 'proud openly gay man,' revealed he initially noticed spots in and around his 'underwear zone,' which indicated to him he had caught the virus.
Over the next few days they spread across the rest of his body, including his face, arms, hands and abdomen.
In total, he has counted 25 spots and said after appearing they began to 'fill with puss' and became itchy. Several — especially in the 'sensitive area' — became so painful they left him unable to sleep at night without taking painkillers.
'I think in total I counted 25 and there are also some in more sensitive areas which tend to be the most painful. They're so painful that I had to go to my doctor to get painkillers just to be able to sleep, like really f****** painful.'
Ford also began suffering flu-like symptoms in the early stages, ranging from a fever, chills, night sweat and a cough.
He is now isolating at home with most symptoms having largely subsided, but will remain there until the spots have healed over and the scabs dropped off.
When he first spotted symptoms on June 17, America's monkeypox cases had just crossed into triple figures. But many scientists warned this was likely an 'undercount' because the CDC was carrying out so few tests every day.
The CDC was performing about 60 tests for monkeypox a day last week, leaving it unable to stay on top of the virus. But it has now sent more swabbing kits to private laboratories as it aims to ramp up testing to tens of thousands a day.
Ford showed spots on his stomach (left) and arm (right). There were about 25 in total, he said, that had erupted all over his body
Ford said he took painkillers because one of the spots around his 'underwear zone' triggered so much pain he couldn't sleep. Pictured above is his arm with monkeypox warning signs
Slamming the CDC's tracking of the virus on BuzzFeed, Ford said: 'Many friends and acquaintances [have] reached out to say they either also had it or had been exposed.
Matt Ford, pictured above before contracting monkeypox. He says he lives in Los Angeles and New York City
'While it was reassuring to know I wasn't alone, it also made me worry that cases were being severely undercounted.'
He added in a TikTok video: 'According to my doctor... the CDC is doing a really lackluster job of tracking how many cases there actually are.
'[This is] due to a lack of testing, and generally not being on top of it.'
Ford is America's first monkeypox patient to reveal his identity and be featured in a national publication.
Describing his symptoms, he said: 'You can see these [spots] on my face, these are thankfully healing the fastest.
'And then these are on my arms and hands that you can see — they are really not cute. I have got one on my tummy here. And those are just a few of the ones on my body.
A day after being warned he had been exposed to the tropical disease, Ford said he began to experience flu-like symptoms which led to him visiting the doctors.
Medics took a swab on the Monday, June 20, but did not manage to get him a diagnosis until the following Thursday, the 23rd — by which point he 'already knew' he was infected.
