Preventing monkeypox (mpox) comes down to three core strategies: avoiding direct contact with the virus, getting vaccinated if you’re at higher risk, and cleaning surfaces and objects that may be contaminated. The virus spreads primarily through close, sustained physical contact, so most prevention measures focus on limiting skin-to-skin exposure and practicing good hygiene.
How Mpox Spreads
Mpox transmits through close or intimate contact with an infected person, through contaminated objects, or through direct contact with an infected animal in regions where the virus circulates in wildlife. The most common route during recent outbreaks has been sexual contact, though household contact and healthcare settings have also been linked to transmission, particularly with the clade I strain circulating in Central Africa.
The virus can live on surfaces and fabrics. Sharing utensils, dishes, cups, bedding, towels, clothing, or sex toys with someone who has mpox can spread the infection. This means prevention isn’t limited to avoiding direct touch with a person’s rash or skin lesions. It extends to everything they’ve recently handled.
Avoiding Direct Contact
The single most effective everyday prevention step is staying away from mpox rashes. Don’t touch the rash or scabs of someone who has or may have the virus. Avoid kissing, hugging, sex, and massage with anyone who has visible lesions or a rash consistent with mpox. If you’re in an area where mpox is actively spreading, minimize skin-to-skin contact at social gatherings and consider reducing the number of close physical interactions you have.
If someone in your household has mpox, they should handle their own bandages and contaminated linens while wearing disposable gloves, then wash their hands immediately after removing the gloves. Anyone else in the home should avoid touching their bedding, towels, or clothing without gloves and a mask.
Safer Sex and Intimacy
Because sexual contact has been the dominant transmission route in recent outbreaks, harm reduction during sex is a major part of prevention. Limiting your number of sexual partners reduces your odds of exposure. Condoms (latex or polyurethane) can protect the areas they cover, including the mouth, penis, vagina, and anus, but they won’t prevent transmission from a rash on the thighs, torso, or hands. Gloves made of latex, polyurethane, or nitrile can reduce exposure during manual sex, as long as they cover all exposed skin and are removed carefully.
After sex, wash your hands, body, sex toys, fetish gear, and any fabrics like bedding or towels. Exchanging contact information with new partners makes follow-up possible if either person develops symptoms later.
If you or a partner has mpox or suspects exposure, the safest option is to avoid all physical sexual contact, including oral, anal, and vaginal sex, plus kissing and touching. Lower-risk alternatives include masturbating together at a distance without touching, virtual sex, or keeping clothes on to minimize skin-to-skin contact. Leather or latex gear creates a barrier but should be cleaned between uses and between partners.
Who Should Get Vaccinated
The JYNNEOS vaccine is the primary tool for mpox prevention in the United States. The CDC recommends it for several groups:
- People with known or suspected exposure to someone with mpox, or whose sex partner was diagnosed with mpox in the past two weeks.
- Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, as well as transgender and nonbinary individuals who in the past six months have had more than one sex partner, a new sexually transmitted infection diagnosis, sex at a commercial venue like a bathhouse or sex club, or sex connected to a large event in an area with active transmission.
- Partners of people in those categories, or anyone who anticipates being in those situations soon.
- Travelers heading to a country with a clade I mpox outbreak who anticipate sexual contact with a new partner, sex at commercial venues, transactional sex, or sex associated with large public events.
- Lab workers and healthcare workers at risk for occupational exposure to orthopoxviruses.
Ideally, vaccination happens before any exposure. But if you’ve already been exposed, getting the vaccine within four days offers the best protection. Vaccination between days 4 and 14 after exposure may still provide some benefit in reducing the severity of illness.
Cleaning Surfaces and Objects
Mpox can survive on household surfaces, so disinfection matters when someone in your home is infected or when you’ve been in a shared space with a known case. The EPA maintains a specific list, called List Q, of disinfectants approved for use against emerging viral pathogens including mpox. Look for the EPA registration number on any cleaning product and check it against this list. Always follow the product label for which surfaces it works on (hard versus soft) and how long the surface needs to stay wet for the disinfectant to be effective.
For laundry, handle contaminated fabrics with gloves and wash them separately. The key is to avoid shaking out dirty linens, which could spread viral particles, and to wash your hands thoroughly after loading the machine.
Travel Precautions in Endemic Areas
In parts of Central and West Africa where mpox circulates in animal populations, avoiding wildlife contact is an additional layer of prevention that doesn’t apply in most other settings. Don’t handle or consume bushmeat. Avoid contact with rodents and primates, which are known carriers. Skip animal-derived products like lotions made from wild animal ingredients.
The same person-to-person precautions apply while traveling: limit close physical contact with anyone who has a rash, wash your hands regularly, and get vaccinated before your trip if you meet the eligibility criteria. Both major strains of the virus, clade I and clade II, are prevented the same way, though clade I has historically been associated with more severe illness. Recent data suggest that with proper supportive care, the fatality rate for both clades is low.
What to Do if You Feel Sick
Mpox often starts with flu-like symptoms, including fever, body aches, and swollen lymph nodes, followed by a rash that progresses through stages from flat spots to raised bumps to fluid-filled blisters and eventually scabs. If you develop a new or unexplained rash, especially after potential exposure, avoid social gatherings, sexual contact, and close physical interactions with others until you’ve been evaluated. Early recognition and isolation are among the simplest ways to stop the virus from spreading further.