Mpox Prevention

If you think you may have been exposed, or if you have symptoms of mpox, avoid others (including pets) and contact your health care provider right away for evaluation and testing. If you don't have insurance or a health care provider, call the Health Department at 734-544-6700. 

Everyone should take steps to prevent mpox:

• Talk to close physical and sexual contacts about their general health, like recent rashes or sores, before engaging in any close contact.
• Avoid coming into contact with people recently diagnosed with the virus or those who may have been infected. Avoid close, skin to skin contact with mpox rashes or sores.
• Get vaccinated if you are eligible. Although receiving one dose of vaccine will reduce the risk of severe disease, you are still at risk of infection until you receive both vaccines. Continue to use prevention strategies.
• Avoid contact with any materials, such as bedding, that has been in contact with a sick animal or infected person.
• Wash your hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer after contact with infected animals or humans.
• Use personal protective equipment (PPE) when caring for sick people, including respirators.
• Avoid contact with animals that could harbor the virus (including animals that are sick or that have been found dead in areas where mpox occurs).

Additional ways to lower your risk for mpox include:

• Decreasing number of sex and intimate contact partners.
• Not going to places like bathhouses or other public sex venues.  
• Avoiding raves, parties, or clubs where people wear minimal clothing and where there is direct, intimate, skin-to-skin contact. For those who attend these events or venues, minimize skin-to-skin contact when possible.
• Events where attendees are fully clothed and unlikely to share skin-to-skin contact are safer. However, be mindful that activities like kissing can spread mpox.

We also recommend regularly getting screened for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Many of the current mpox cases in Michigan also have STIs. Syphilis and herpes are much more common than mpox - they appear similar and should be treated too. STI testing is available at the Health Department and from other local providers. 

See more about safer social gatherings and safer sex here.