More than a quarter of the 330 mpox cases confirmed and diagnosed in Victoria this year have been in people living in Melbourne’s South East, according to Monash Health.
Mpox is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus. It’s mostly spread through prolonged physical or intimate skin-to-skin contact with someone who has mpox.
Symptoms resemble sexually transmitted infections and can include a rash that can be painful and affect any part of the body.
Mpox can cause severe illness and leave long-term impacts, such as scarring.
So far 27 people have been hospitalised this year.
“This can be a sexually transmitted infection, so anyone who is sexually active can be at risk,” professor Rhonda Stuart, who is the director of Monash Health’s South East Public Health Unit and director of Infection Prevention & Epidemiology at Monash Health, said.
“It is mainly diagnosed in men who have sex with men, but now we are seeing it in other people, including a handful of women and in heterosexual transmission.
“People who are sexually active and have any symptoms should get a test from their GP or at a sexual health clinic so they don’t spread it on to other people.”
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer recently released a Health Alert urging doctors to test patients with compatible symptoms for mpox.
Free mpox vaccines are available for eligible Victorians from vaccination providers across Victoria and in the South East.
“It’s important to remember that vaccination prevents severe disease, and, in some cases, it might prevent infection as well,” professor Stuart said.
“But it doesn’t stop all people becoming infected and so you are still at risk of getting the disease, even if you are vaccinated.”
