Monkeypox Signs and Symptoms
Symptoms usually start within 3 weeks of exposure to the virus. The illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks. Learn the symptoms of monkeypox and know when to contact a healthcare professional.
People with monkeypox get a rash that may be located on or near the genitals or anus and could be on other areas like the hands, feet, chest, face, or mouth. The rash will go through several stages, including scabs, before healing. It can initially look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy.
Preventing Monkeypox
If you have monkeypox, the CDC advises you to stay at home (isolate) if you have monkeypox symptoms, until your monkeypox rash has healed and a new layer of skin has formed.
Staying away from other people and not sharing things you have touched with others will help prevent the spread of monkeypox. Monkeypox can also spread to animals, so staying away from pets, livestock and other animals is important.
This table from the CDC provides guidance on preventing the spread of monkeypox.
Cleaning and Disinfecting at Home
During the infectious period of time, body fluids, respiratory secretions, and lesion material from people with monkeypox can contaminate the environment. Poxviruses can survive in linens, clothing and on environmental surfaces, particularly when in dark, cool, and low humidity environments. People with monkeypox should clean and disinfect the spaces they occupy regularly to limit household contamination.
Notifying Close Contacts
If you have been diagnosed with monkeypox, it’s important to notify your close contacts that they may have been exposed to monkeypox as soon as possible, so they can watch for signs and symptoms, get tested and isolate if they have symptoms, and consider getting vaccinated.
Vaccination
Other symptoms of monkeypox can include:
- Fever
- Chills
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Exhaustion
- Muscle aches and backache
- Headache
- Respiratory symptoms (e.g. sore throat, nasal congestion, or cough)
You may experience all or only a few symptoms
- Sometimes, people have flu-like symptoms before the rash.
- Some people get a rash first, followed by other symptoms.
- Others only experience a rash.
How long do monkeypox symptoms last?
Monkeypox symptoms usually start within 3 weeks of exposure to the virus. If someone has flu-like symptoms, they will usually develop a rash 1-4 days later.
Monkeypox 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. The illness typically lasts 2-4 weeks.
- Avoid close contact, including sex or being intimate with anyone, until you have been checked out by a healthcare provider.
- If you don’t have a provider or health insurance, visit a public health clinic near you.
- When you see a healthcare provider, wear a mask, and remind them that this virus is circulating in the area.
Testing
When to Get Tested
Currently, testing is only recommended if you have a rash consistent with monkeypox.
If you think you have monkeypox or have had close personal contact with someone who has monkeypox, visit a healthcare provider to help you decide if you need to be tested for monkeypox.
Where to Get Tested
Only a healthcare provider can order a monkeypox test. The healthcare provider may take a specimen and send it to a lab for testing or they may send you to a lab for both specimen collection and testing.
What to Expect When You Get Tested
To get a specimen to test, the healthcare provider will use a swab to rub vigorously across lesions of your rash. They will take swabs from more than one lesion. This swabbing may be uncomfortable but is necessary to get enough material to detect the monkeypox virus from the specimens.
The specimens will be tested in a lab to see if the monkeypox virus is detected and results are usually available within a few days. While you are waiting for your results, take precautions to avoid getting or spreading monkeypox virus to others.
Other symptoms of monkeypox can include:
- Fever
- Chills
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Exhaustion
- Muscle aches and backache
- Headache
- Respiratory symptoms (e.g. sore throat, nasal congestion, or cough)
You may experience all or only a few symptoms
- Sometimes, people have flu-like symptoms before the rash.
- Some people get a rash first, followed by other symptoms.
- Others only experience a rash.
Therapeutics
There are no treatments specifically for monkeypox. But because the viruses that cause monkeypox and smallpox are similar, antiviral drugs developed to protect against smallpox may be used to treat monkeypox effectively.
The antiviral drug tecovirimat (TPOXX) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat smallpox in adults and children. Drugs developed to treat smallpox may be used to treat monkeypox.
If you are prescribed TPOXX, you will be asked to sign a consent form stating you understand TPOXX is an investigational drug that has not yet been approved by the FDA for treatment of monkeypox. Investigational means there is not currently enough data available from testing in people on the safety and effectiveness of TPOXX for treating people with monkeypox.
Research is currently happening to test the safety and effectiveness for all people with monkeypox.
TPOXX is currently only for people with severe monkeypox disease or who are at high risk of severe disease, like people with weakened immune systems or skin conditions, such as HIV that is not virally suppressed and eczema.
TPOXX may help prevent or minimize severe monkeypox disease involving the eyes, mouth, throat, genitals, and anus (butthole). It may provide relief for short-term symptoms such as pain, swelling, and abscesses and long-term effects such as scarring.
TPOXX is for people with severe disease or those at high risk of developing severe disease.
TPOXX can reduce the amount of the virus in the body. TPOXX is considered investigational for the treatment of monkeypox because sufficient data are not yet available on the safety and effectiveness of TPOXX in treating people with monkeypox.
Research focused on safety in healthy people without monkeypox virus infection showed the drug was safe.
There are current studies looking at TPOXX as a treatment for monkeypox in people. Additionally, previous studies including a variety of animal species show TPOXX can be an effective treatment for orthopoxviruses (such as monkeypox) in animals.
Drugs that are effective in animal studies are not always effective in humans. Conducting studies to assess TPOXX’s safety and efficacy in humans with monkeypox infections is essential.
The FDA has not yet approved TPOXX for treatment against monkeypox. Under the expanded access investigational new drug (EA-IND) protocol, CDC, in partnership with FDA, has made TPOXX easier for healthcare providers to prescribe to people with monkeypox who have or who are at high risk of severe disease.