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For Healthcare Providers

The Mpox Consultation Form is no longer required for submission of specimens to the state public health laboratory (SPHL) for testing.

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At this time, testing for mpox can be performed by various laboratories across the state, including public health, commercial, and some clinical/research laboratories. The Alabama Department of Public Health is available to assist with mpox testing. If your patient is a suspected case of mpox and you wish to use the services of our public health laboratory, please download Guidance for Mpox Specimen Collection and Shipping.

If you are a vaccination provider, please visit our For Vaccination Providers page.

Table of Contents

What's New?

HAN Alerts

Visit the Health Alert Network (HAN) for CDC's HAN Messages.

Additional Resources

ACIP Meeting Presentations

More presentations are available at ACIP Meetings.

Children and Adolescents

Mpox should be considered when children or adolescents present with a rash that could be consistent with the disease, especially if epidemiologic criteria are present. Young children, children with eczema and other skin conditions, and children with immunocompromising conditions may be at increased risk of severe disease. Treatment should be considered on a case-by-case basis for children and adolescents with suspected or confirmed mpox who are at risk of severe disease or who develop complications of mpox. Tecovirimat is the first-line medication to treat mpox, including in children and adolescents. Children and adolescents with exposure to people with suspected or confirmed mpox may be eligible for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with vaccination, immune globulin, or antiviral medication. For more information, read:

Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

Data regarding mpox infection in pregnancy are limited. It is unknown if pregnant people are more susceptible to the mpox virus or if the infection is more severe during pregnancy. Mpox virus can be transmitted to the fetus during pregnancy or to the newborn by close contact during and after birth. Adverse pregnancy outcomes, including spontaneous pregnancy loss and stillbirth, have been reported in cases of confirmed mpox infection during pregnancy. Preterm delivery and neonatal mpox infection have also been reported. The frequency and risk factors for severity and adverse pregnancy outcomes are not known. For more information, read:

Therapeutics

There are no treatments specifically for mpox virus infections. However, mpox and smallpox viruses are genetically similar, which means that antiviral drugs and vaccines developed to protect against smallpox may be used to prevent and treat mpox virus infections.

Antivirals, such as tecovirimat (TPOXX), may be recommended for people who are more likely to get severely ill, like patients with weakened immune systems. For information concerning mpox therapeutics and obtaining TPOXX, read:

Vaccines

Two vaccines may be used for the prevention of mpox virus infection:

  • JYNNEOS (also known as Imvamune or Imvanex), licensed (or approved) by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention of mpox virus infection, and ACAM2000, licensed (or approved) by FDA for use against smallpox and made available for use against mpox under an Expanded Access Investigational New Drug application.
  • No data are available yet on the effectiveness of these vaccines in the current outbreak.
  • The immune response takes 14 days after the second dose of JYNNEOS and 4 weeks for maximal development.
  • People who get vaccinated should continue to take steps to protect themselves from infection by avoiding close, skin-to-skin contact, including intimate contact, with someone who has mpox.
  • To better understand the protective benefits of these vaccines in the current outbreak, CDC will collect data about adverse events and vaccine effectiveness, including whether the vaccine protects a person differently depending on how they were infected with the mpox virus.

For more information, read Considerations for Mpox Vaccination.





Page last updated: January 9, 2024