The monkeypox contagion is a new problem, but not a new concern. After the Covid-19 pandemic, and the scourge of deaths that occurred over the last two years, we have had to struggle with our numerous failures as health professionals. But again and again, we come back to one simple truth: We fail repeatedly to tell the public the hard truths, and to explain to people what we do and do not know about these new diseases. Doctors must openly admit their gaps of knowledge, which allows the public to understand our limitations as health-care professionals. The more facts and truths we communicate to the public, the more the public can be prepared, and the more likely that the health-care community will build trust with a public that has had every reason to distrust the experts over the past few years.

With Covid, we failed to focus on those most at risk: the elderly. Early on in the pandemic, countries and states that faced the virus first did a poor job of protecting the vulnerable populations, leading to mass deaths. Meanwhile, those same communities focused on closing schools and day-care centers, which targeted the lowest-risk cohort in our population, children. With monkeypox, the virus is right now targeting homosexual men, especially sexually active ones. Admitting that fact is essential to protect the population from further spread of this disease. Inconvenient truths are sometimes essential to a competent, effective public-policy effort.