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People who have been infected with monkeypox went into detail about the 'unbearable' symptoms they suffered through.
The virus has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) as it has spread to more than 70 countries and could reach even more.
According to the WHO, if the virus spreads to many more countries it will take a global coordinated effort to curb further risk of infections and keep control of monkeypox.
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The first death in Europe from monkeypox has been confirmed in Spain, while there are also thousands of cases of infection in the US as well.
While the WHO says in most cases the symptoms of monkeypox will go away by themselves in a few weeks, living with those symptoms sounds like an absolutely horrendous experience.
According to Health Day, several men who caught the virus have gone into detail about exactly what it's like to suffer through the symptoms and their stories aren't for the faint of heart.
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They all began noticing lesions forming on their skin and on the insides of their mouths, which at first felt sore before making basic daily tasks 'unbearable'.
One man had 'clusters of lesions in the back of my throat', rendering him unable to eat solid food while making it difficult to drink, he then developed lesions inside his rectum, making it very painful to go to the toilet.
At one point his throat was closing up to the point that he worried he wouldn't be able to breathe.
Another man who had monkeypox and had lesions develop on his penis described peeing being so painful it was 'like razor blades passing through your urethra'.
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A third man who shared his story said when lesions started appearing on his body it was 'too painful for me to go to work', though at first he thought he'd been bitten by an insect.
Their accounts of monkeypox tally with that of Chicago man Lake Javan, who shared pictures of his infection and said he also found it incredibly painful, as well as difficult to eat or drink anything.
Another person who shared the experience of their symptoms was London-based charity worker Haran Tulunay, who initially thought he'd caught the coronavirus before enduring days of a painful fever.
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He would later describe having monkeypox as 'worse than covid' and the 'worst experience ever', and remembers calling a nurse and begging her for help.
Research into monkeypox warns that the virus has mutated at a much faster rate than scientists initially expected, which could explain why it's spreading into parts of the world where it should be struggling.
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Topics: World News, Health
Joe Harker