Mpox can spread to anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact including:
- Direct contact with mpox rash, scabs, or body fluids from a person with mpox. It is thought that this is currently the most common way that mpox is spreading in the U.S.
- Touching objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels), and surfaces that have been used by someone with mpox.
- Contact with respiratory secretions.
- Pregnant people can spread the virus to their fetus through the placenta.
Contact can happen during intimate contact including:
- Oral, anal, and vaginal sex or touching the genitals (penis, testicles, labia, and vagina) or anus of a person with mpox.
- Hugging, massage, and kissing.
- Prolonged face-to-face contact.
- Touching fabrics and objects during sex that were used by a person with monkeypox and that have not been disinfected, such as bedding, towels, fetish gear, and sex toys.
Persons may experience all or only a few of the symptoms of mpox.
- Most people with mpox will get a rash. Some people have developed a rash before (or without) flu-like symptoms.
- Mpox symptoms usually start within 3 weeks of exposure to the virus.
- The flu-like symptoms may include fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, sore throat, cough, swollen lymph nodes, chills, or exhaustion.
- If someone has flu-like symptoms, they will usually develop a rash 1-4 days later.
- The rash may be located on or near the genitals or anus but could also be on other areas like the hands, feet, chest, or face.
Mpox rash:
- The rash will go through several stages, including scabs, before healing.
- The rash can look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy.
- The rash may also be inside the body, including the mouth, vagina, or anus.
Mypox can be spread from the time symptoms start until the rash has healed, all scabs have fallen off, and a fresh layer of skin has formed. This can take several weeks.
What should a person do if they have a new or unexplained rash or other symptoms?
The Mpox vaccine (Jynneos) eligibility criteria have been updated in August 2022.
Those interested in receiving the vaccine should call WCCHD at 512-943-3600 to complete a brief screening and make an appointment if eligible. The updated criteria include anyone with known mpox exposure, men who have multiple same-sex partners, and persons with increased exposure risk.