Isolating

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    How do I isolate?

    If you have been diagnosed with Monkeypox and you have been advised to self-isolate at home by your doctor, you should not go to work, school, or public areas.

    • Do not allow social visitors to your home.
    • Avoid close contact with people you live with, take the following steps to reduce the chance of passing your infection on:
      • Sleep in a separate room and do not share bedding.
      • Avoid all intimate contact with others including sexual activity.
      • Wear a mask when in the same room as others. Replace mask after it has been used for 4 hours in total.
      • Practice good hand hygiene by washing your hands frequently throughout the day with soap and water for 20 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand sanitiser. Care should be taken if there are extensive or ulcerated hand lesions.
      • Practice good sneeze/cough etiquette.
      • Eat in a separate room and do not share food and drinks
      • Use a separate bathroom from the rest of your household, if available. If you do not have a separate bathroom, follow the cleaning instructions below
      • Do not share household items (such as clothes, bed linen, towels, crockery, and cutlery). If others must touch these items, they should wear gloves and a mask.
      • Keep your laundry items separate from the rest of the household’s laundry and wash them using your normal detergent at the highest possible temperature.

    Avoid contact with those at potential higher risk of severe infection (children, immunocompromised and women who are pregnant).

    Avoid close contact with animals, including pets and in particular rodents as animals may become infected and spread the virus.

    Only leave home for medical care or solo outdoor exercise and wear a mask and cover all lesions.

    You should self-isolate at home until you at least meet all the following criteria:

    •  you have not had a high temperature for at least 72 hours
    • you have had no new lesions in the previous 48 hours at any site
    • any lesions on your face, arms and hands have scabbed over, all the scabs have fallen off and a fresh layer of skin has formed underneath.

    If you meet all the points above, you may be able to stop self-isolating and you should contact the public health for further advice. It is the role of Public Health to determine when the isolation period ends.

    Please don’t hesitate to contact Public Health on 3624 1111 if you have any concerns re isolation.

    How long am I infectious for?

    You are infectious from the onset of symptoms and remain infectious until the rash has resolved, and all the lesions have crusted, scabs have fallen off and a fresh layer of skin has formed underneath on all lesions. Most people will be infectious for 2-4 weeks.

    Do not donate blood, tissue, semen or breast milk. The length of time that this applies to after infection is not yet clear.

    As it is unclear at this time whether the monkeypox virus remains infectious in semen after recovery, it is recommended that men who have had monkeypox should use condoms when having sex for a further 8 weeks after they complete isolation.

    Can I have sex ?

    You should abstain from sex until ALL the skin lesions from Monkeypox have crusted, the scabs have fallen off and a fresh layer of skin has formed.

    It is unclear at this time whether the Monkeypox virus remains infectious in semen after recovery, it is therefore recommended you must use condoms for sexual activity (receptive, insertive oral/anal/vaginal) for 8 weeks after recovery to reduce the risk of transmission.