Advice for people with mpox

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Mpox (previously known as monkeypox) is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It spreads mostly through skin-to-skin contact with rashes, blisters and sores or contact with bodily fluids from a person with mpox. It is usually a mild illness and most people recover within a few weeks without any specific treatment.

Mpox symptoms

• Rash or sores: Can appear anywhere on the body but often around the genitals, anus, mouth, hands or face. They might look like pimples, ulcers or boils. The number of lesions varies. The rash may change and go through different stages, before finally becoming a scab that falls off.
• Other symptoms: Fever, chills, sore throat, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, headache, anal or rectal pain or pain when urinating.
• Symptoms normally start 3 to 21 days after contact with someone who has mpox.
• People who are fully vaccinated against mpox may only have mild symptoms.

Precautions

While waiting for your results:

• Do not have close or intimate contact with others, including sex and skin-to-skin contact.
• Cover sores when around other people or pets. Use a waterproof dressing or bandage and wear clothing.
• Wear a surgical mask when around other people or pets if you have a sore throat, oral lesions or are coughing.
• Wash hands with soap and water regularly and cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.
• Avoid touching your face or rubbing your eyes, especially if you have blisters on or near your eyes or hands.

If you have mpox

If your results are positive, someone from your Local Public Health Unit (LPHU) will be in touch with advice and to understand if anyone else is at risk. They will help identify other people you may have been in contact with while you were infectious, to alert them of the risk of developing mpox. They will inform your contacts without disclosing your identity. In some circumstances, close contacts can be offered vaccination to prevent them getting mpox.

You may be asked to change some of your daily activities to reduce the risk of spreading mpox to other people. Occasionally, the LPHU may ask you to stay home and isolate from other people if there is a higher risk of spreading mpox, for example, if you can’t cover your sores or wear a mask, or if you have the Clade Ib strain of the monkeypox virus that is spreading in parts of Africa.

For most people with mpox, symptoms can be managed through staying hydrated and taking over-the-counter pain medication. For more severe cases, your doctor may recommend other treatments.

Protecting others

Please continue to follow the same advice as when you were tested, and also:

• Do not have close or intimate contact with others, including all sexual activity.
• Do not share items or utensils, including clothing, bedding, towels, cutlery or crockery, and do your own laundry if you can.
• Work from home if possible, unless your LPHU has advised that you can attend the workplace.
• Limit close contact with household members, such as sleeping in a separate room and using a separate bathroom if possible.
• Clean and disinfect any shared spaces (including bathrooms), appliances or items immediately after use.
• Avoid contact with other people, particularly those who are at higher risk of severe disease, like immunosuppressed people, pregnant women, or young children.
• Do not enter high-risk settings like childcare services, aged care or healthcare facilities where there may be people at higher risk of severe disease, including for work, without first discussing with the LPHU (unless seeking medical attention).
• Do not have close contact with animals (particularly dogs and rodents) due to the possibility of human-to-animal transmission.
• Do not donate any human tissue, including blood, cells, tissue, breast milk, semen, or organs.
• Tell your recent sexual partners they may have been exposed to mpox (the LPHU can help tell people anonymously if preferred).

Infectious period

People with mpox may be infectious from 4 days before symptoms start until all symptoms are gone.

Your doctor will tell you when you are no longer infectious.

You are infectious until:

• all lesions have crusted, and
• scabs have fallen off and a fresh layer of skin has formed underneath, and
• any rectal pain (pain in or around the anus) has completely gone.

Recovery

After clearance by your doctor, you can go back to your normal activities, but you should:

• use condoms for any sexual activity for 12 weeks after symptoms have gone away
• not donate blood, cells, human tissue, breast milk, semen or organs for 12 weeks
• thoroughly clean and disinfect your home. This is particularly important if you had scabs that may have fallen off in the home.

Where to get help

• Always call an ambulance in an emergency: Telephone 000 (Triple Zero)
• Emergency department of your nearest hospital
• Your GP (doctor)
• Nurse-on-Call Tel. 1300 60 60 24 (24 hours, 7 days) – for confidential health advice from a registered nurse
• Melbourne Sexual Health Centre Tel. (03) 9341 6200 or 1800 032 017 or TTY (for the hearing impaired) Tel. (03) 9347 8619
• Thorne Harbour Health (formerly Victorian AIDS Council) Tel. (03) 9865 6700 or 1800 134 840
• Counselling and support services are available through your GP or health service. For more information, see Mental Health and Wellbeing Hubs.

For more information, see Mpox signs, symptoms and treatment.