Mpox Guidance and Resources
Last Updated: September 3, 2024
Tufts is monitoring mpox developments in the United States and around the world and will continue to adjust the university’s recommendations and response accordingly.
Mpox Symptoms
- Mpox usually causes a rash but other symptoms can include fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, backache, and swollen lymph nodes. The rash may initially look like pimples or blisters and may be painful or itchy.
Mpox Spread
Mpox can spread to anyone through close contact with a person who has mpox or with contaminated materials. Peoople may be exposed to mpox by:
- Direct contact or intimate contact with mpox rash, scabs, or body fluids from a person with mpox.
- Touching objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels) and surfaces that have been used by someone with mpox.
- Contact with respiratory secretions of an infected person.
- Oral, anal, and vaginal sex or touching the genitals or anus of a person with mpox.
- Prolonged face-to-face contact such as when hugging, massaging, and kissing.
- Touching fabrics and objects during sex that were used by a person with mpox and have not been disinfected, such as bedding, towels, fetish gear, and sex toys.
- A pregnant person can spread the virus to their fetus through the placenta.
A person is infectious to others from the time symptoms start until the rash has fully healed and a fresh layer of skin has formed. The illness typically lasts 2–4 weeks.
- People may spread mpox to others 1-4 days BEFORE they have symptoms.
- People may be exposed through contact with wild animals in areas where mpox is endemic.
- It remains unclear whether mpox can be spread through semen, vaginal fluids, urine, or feces.
Anyone can be infected with mpox regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
- While gay, bisexual, and queer men and transgender and non-binary people who have sex with men have been disproportionately impacted thus far, inaccurate media messaging that this is a “gay illness” is wrong.
- Such messages create stigma, perpetuate misconceptions, harm people who are vulnerable, and prevent people who are at risk from taking precautions.
Explore the CDC's prevention guidance here: Safer Sex, Social Gatherings, and Mpox
Vaccination, and Treatment Information
Mpox Exposure
If you have had contact with a person diagnosed with mpox, please follow specific guidance from your healthcare provider and local public health department.
- Students on the Medford/Somerville and Fenway campuses should notify Tufts Health Service at 617-627-3350.
- Employees should notify their PCP or Tufts Occupational Health Services of their exposure.
- Tufts School of Dental Medicine students and employees who work in a clinic, please report any workplace exposure to Tufts Occupational Health Services at 617-627-6500.
- Tufts School of Medicine third- and fourth-year students should report workplace exposures to their clerkship director.
- Faculty/staff/employees should report any workplace exposure to Tufts Occupational Health Services at 617-627-6500.
All Students and Employees Working in Clinical Settings
- When caring for patients with suspected or diagnosed mpox, please follow local clinical and hospital infection control policies.
- Any workplace exposures should be reported to the local infection control.
If You Experience Symptoms
Please isolate yourself from others immediately and do not report to work or school until you are evaluated and cleared to do so by a healthcare professional. Testing can be arranged when indicated.
If You Are Diagnosed With Mpox
- You must isolate yourself and should not attend work, classes, or other in-person activities.
- A person diagnosed with mpox should avoid close contact with others, wear a well-fitting mask and make sure that the rash is completely covered.
- Discuss possible treatment options and the duration of isolation with your healthcare provider.
- Residential students diagnosed with mpox will be assigned to temporary isolation housing and will receive meal delivery.
Missing School or Work
If you need to miss school or work due to illness or isolation, we encourage you to take good care of yourself, your health, and your well-being.
You do not need to disclose your diagnosis to your instructors or supervisors.
Students:
- If you need to miss class, let your course instructors know that you will be absent and follow your school’s policy for excused absences.
Students Working in Clinical Settings:
- Notify Tufts Occupational Health Services at 617-627-6500 of the exposure or diagnosis.
- Students working on clinical rotations should notify their relevant rotation or clerkship directors and the Office of Student Affairs.
Faculty, Staff, and Students:
- Communicate with your manager that you will miss work.
Confidentiality
Medical information must be treated with great care and confidentiality.
- Tufts Occupational Health Services, Tufts Student Health Service, PCPs, and local boards of health will all carry out their responsibilities to ensure that appropriate contact tracing and environmental disinfection take place as needed.
- Students and employees are encouraged to notify the relevant contacts as outlined above to report their own exposures, symptoms, and diagnoses.
- Managers, instructors, and other community members who become aware of a case or suspected case should remember to respect the medical privacy of all students and employees.
Questions
If you have a specific concern that this page does not address and cannot find what you need through MA DPH, CDC, or your local or state health department, please contact:
- Your PCP or healthcare provider
- Tufts Health Service at 617-627-3350 (Medford/Somerville and Fenway campus students)
- Tufts Medical Center Respiratory Infection Clinic at 617-636-3164 (Boston health sciences campus employees and students)
- Grafton Student Health Services (Grafton campus students)
- Tufts Occupational Health Services at 617-627-6500 (all employees)