I am increasingly getting queries about monkeypox virus with cases being detected in NSW and Australia for the first time in May.

Monkeypox is passed on mostly through skin-to-skin contact, but it is also possible to get it from inhaling droplets from sneezes and coughs or touching contaminated items. Symptoms include rashes, lesions, sores, fever, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes. If you develop any of these, especially if you have had skin-to-skin contact with other people, or you have travelled somewhere with known cases, you should self-isolate immediately and contact your GP or sexual health clinic.

In most cases, monkeypox will be mild but some people will get very sick and it is important that we work together to control the virus and protect each other.

There is a vaccine currently in use overseas, but it hasn’t been approved for use in Australia. With only 41 cases in Australia, vaccinating risk groups provides an opportunity to beat this virus in its tracks. I’ve asked the federal health minister to secure vaccine access > HERE.

See the report in the Herald > HERE.