What happens if you get mpox?

Leading public health expert, Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH, provides the latest on mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), including who should get vaccinated, common symptoms, testing and treatment options, and more, in this FAQ series. Watch and share.
For more on mpox, including FREE vaccines: greaterthan.org/mpox and cdc.gov/mpox
Dr. Daskalakis is the Acting Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, deployed from his position as the Director of the Division of HIV Prevention in the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at CDC. He is an infectious disease specialist with a focus on LGBTQAI communities.
This video is a joint production of KFF’s GREATER THAN public information campaign and CDC. This information is shared for educational purposes and should not be used substitute for professional medical advice. The views expressed are those of the featured medical professional and reflect information available to that professional at the time of filming. Always consult a health care provider for any personal health decisions.
The mark “CDC” is owned by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services and is used with permission. Use of this logo is not an endorsement by HHS or CDC of any particular product, service, or enterprise.
TRANSCRIPT:
We usually think of mpox as a skin infection. So, people can get a rash. It can look like chickenpox. It can look like herpes. And the rash can involve some very sensitive parts of people's bodies, like their genitals, their anus or their butt, their mouths.And those tend to be very painful lesions.
There may be some folks who have longer term side effects from having the infection. Like, there could be what's called a stricture, which means narrowing of tubes because of scarring.
What we've learned as we've seen this mpox outbreak is that people living with HIV who don't have a undetectable viral load, individuals with very low CD4 counts can have really severe outcomes with this disease.