Adult Film Star Greg Riley Shares his Monkeypox Experience

The horror stories around monkeypox share the same dispiriting scenario: A frightening diagnosis followed by a painful outbreak, anxiety, isolation, and difficulty in receiving treatment. The breakdown of failure of federal and local health care organizations to deal with the health crisis is scathingly covered by John Oliver on his HBO show, "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," which can be seen below.

But what of a real case? The testimonies by those who have gone public with their diagnosis are far from pleasant. Take adult star Greg Riley, who visited The Sword podcast "Discretion Advised" to discuss his bout with the virus.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

In a conversation with hosts John Hill�and�Marc MacNamara, along with former�"Real Housewives of Dallas"�star Dr. Tiffany Moon,�Riley didn't whitewash his experience.

"The first ten days are awful. If you can think of Hell times 20, that's what it was," Riley said.

Riley discovered what he thought was a pimple in late June/early July. "A few days later, he began to notice something was wrong when he found himself with a 'mild fever' and a new bump between his fingers. Greg says he then contacted a doctor who advised him to wait 24 hours before taking any further action," writes The Sword.

"The next day, on Thursday, I woke up with like ten more," Greg recalled. "Then I had to have the state [of Maryland] come in with hazmat suits. They had to literally, with a needle, pop every single pox that I had to gain samples. It was painful."

The Sword continues: "In total, Greg says he has 37 pox on his body along with severe anal lesions. The industry newcomer goes on to agree that the pain was the worst part of the experience and likened his anal lesions to having 'five hemorrhoids at one time' and that it felt like 'someone taking glass and cutting your insides and twisting it.' "

Nor does he think he contracted the virus through sexual contact. The majority of cases, currently at 7,510 in the United States, have resulted from male-to-male physical contact.

"When talking about how he contacted monkeypox, Greg said that he doesn't believe he got it from sexual contact. He says that his few sexual partners from that time period showed no symptoms and that he most likely got it from close contact from being in a crowd."