Common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions which can last 2–4 weeks accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.

Mpox can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with someone who is infectious, with contaminated materials, or with infected animals. Laboratory confirmation of mpox is done by testing skin lesion material by PCR.

Mpox is treated with supportive care. Vaccines and therapeutics developed for smallpox and approved for use in some countries can be used for mpox in some circumstances.

Mpox can be prevented by avoiding physical contact with someone who has mpox. Vaccination can help prevent infection for people at risk. If you have mpox then tell anyone you have been close to recently, Stay at home until all scabs fall off and a new layer of skin forms and Avoid any further physical contact.

The monkeypox virus was discovered in Denmark 1958 in monkeys who were kept for research and the first reported human case of mpox was a nine-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. After 1970, mpox occurred sporadically in Central and East and West Africa. In 2003 an outbreak in the United States of America was linked to imported wild animals. Since 2005, thousands of suspected cases are reported in the DRC every year. In 2017, mpox re-emerged in Nigeria and continues to spread between people across the country and in travellers to other destinations.

In May 2022, an outbreak of mpox appeared suddenly and rapidly spread across Europe, the Americas and then all six WHO regions, with 110 countries reporting about 87 thousand cases and 112 deaths.

The government of India has directed Airport Health Officers and Port Health Officers to be on high alert, particularly with respect to passengers arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African countries.

Getting an mpox vaccine can help prevent infection. The vaccine should be given within 4 days of contact with someone who has mpox (or within up to 14 days if there are no symptoms).  Three vaccines, MVA-BN, LC16, and OrthopoxVac, developed for smallpox are approved for the prevention of mpox.