Consider how much close, personal, skin-to-skin contact may happen at any event you plan to attend. If you feel sick or have any rashes or sores, do not attend any gathering. Speak to your GP or local sexual health clinic. Festivals, events, and concerts where you’re fully clothed and unlikely to have skin-to-skin contact are safer. But be mindful of activities (like kissing) that might spread mpox. A rave, party, or club where there’s less clothing and where there’s direct, personal, often skin-to-skin contact has some risk. Avoid any rashes or sores you see on others. Consider avoiding touching others where possible. Enclosed spaces, such as dark rooms, saunas, or sex clubs, where there is minimal or no clothing and where intimate sexual contact occurs, have a higher chance of spreading mpox.
Having sex
Talk to your partner about any recent illness. Be aware of new or unexplained sores or rashes on your body or your partner’s body, including the genitals and anus. If you or your partner have recently been sick, currently feel sick, or have a new or an unexplained rash or sores, do not have sex. Speak to your GP or local sexual health clinic. If you or a partner has mpox, the best way to protect yourself and others is to not have sex of any kind (oral, anal, vaginal). Do not kiss or touch each other’s bodies while you’re sick, especially any rash or sores. Do not share things like towels, toothbrushes, fetish gear and sex toys.