Frequently asked questions about how monkeypox spreads, who’s most at risk, and what vaccines and treatments are available
Monkeypox is a disease caused by a virus in the orthopoxvirus group, which includes smallpox. The monkeypox virus—a DNA virus—was first identified in monkeys in a lab in Denmark in 1958, but it is more typically found in rodents and other animals. It has caused periodic outbreaks since the 1970s in Central and West Africa, where the virus has been found in several animal species. The virus has occasionally infected people outside of Africa; in 2003 people in the U.S.
The illness generally lasts two to four weeks. Scientists are still figuring out whether the virus can be transmitted by people without symptoms.The main symptoms are a pimplelike or blisterlike rash and flulike symptoms, including fever, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes. People can have just a rash and no flulike symptoms, or vice versa. In the current outbreak, cases often present with lesions on the genitals or anus, sometimes with penile swelling or rectal pain, known as proctitis.
If you have monkeypox, you should isolate from other people as much as possible until your lesions have scabbed over and fallen off. “People who are diagnosed with monkeypox should really strictly isolate,” meaning staying in a separate room in the household and not mixing with other people, El-Sadr says. “They can only leave the house for emergency reasons. And if they do, they also need to cover any sores or rash they have on their body,” she says.
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