UK RECOMMENDS PEOPLE WITH MONKEYPOX ABSTAIN FROM SEX

The U.K. Health Security Agency on Monday issued guidance recommending that people who test positive for monkeypox abstain from sexual activity while they are symptomatic.

 

“People with possible, probable or confirmed monkeypox should avoid contact with other people until their lesions have healed and the scabs have dried off,” the agency said in its guidance. “Cases should also abstain from sex while symptomatic, including the period of early symptom onset, and while lesions are present.”

 

Monkeypox is primarily spread through prolonged skin-to-skin contact with an infectious person — not just sexual. It typically causes lesions to form on an individual’s face and body.

 

The agency noted that there is currently “no available evidence of monkeypox in genital excretions,” but advised that condoms still be used for eight weeks after infection as a “precaution.”

 

An individual who contracts monkeypox is generally considered to no longer be infectious once their skin lesions scab over and are fully healed.

 

As of Monday, 183 monkeypox cases have been confirmed in the U.K. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 10 cases of monkeypox.