If you have symptoms of mpox, contact your healthcare provider to be evaluated for possible testing.  Be sure to wear a mask and cover any lesions as much as possible.

Although commercial testing is available, specimens must be collected by a healthcare provider and sent to the lab. LabCorp, Quest and other labs that are doing testing will not take self-referred walk-ins for mpox testing.

Testing involves collecting swabs of the rash, which will be sent out to a lab. Individuals should isolate at home while test results are pending.

There are no treatments specifically for mpox. But, since mpox and smallpox are from the same virus family, certain drugs and vaccines created for smallpox may be used to treat and prevent mpox infections. An investigational antiviral drug called tecovirimat (TPOXX), can be used in  people with severe symptoms and in those who are more likely to get severely sick, like people with weakened immune systems.

For New Jersey residents with known exposure to a person with mpox, the two-dose regimen for preventing mpox continues to be available through your local health department.

Residents who don’t have a known exposure, but have been in situations where there was a high risk of exposure are eligible to receive the vaccine through what is known as Expanded Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP++) at one of the state’s community partner vaccination sites. The New Jersey Department of Health receives monkeypox (hMPXV) vaccines from the federal government and they are provided at no cost to eligible individuals.

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