Symptoms and Scars: Mpox Experiences

The article is from our special issue on Mpox. You can access the full issue here.

As a gay man, the fear of mpox was very real when it started making headlines in 2022. My husband and I, along with another gay couple, made plans to go to Provincetown, one of the gayest towns in America, for a week that August. Unfortunately, the vaccine wasn’t readily available at the time, and as cases started to escalate we got worried. Should we cancel our trip? We pondered, but ultimately decided to go. We went to the sweaty, shirtless, packed dance parties, and luckily none of us contracted the disease. But other men at similar parties haven’t been so lucky.

Mpox, once a distant health concern isolated to Western and Central Africa, has become a deeply transformative and harrowing experience for those who’ve contracted the disease. Coupled with brutal symptoms, isolation for weeks at a time, and scars that last a lifetime—it’s a much more serious illness than the “chicken pox” as certain people have claimed. The following are not just medical stories, they are personal stories of survival, community, and hope, and a reminder to get your mpox vaccine if you haven’t already. Remember a complete vaccination takes 6 weeks and two doses—after your first dose you need to wait 4 weeks before your second dose, and another two weeks for maximum protection.

 

Patient 1:

Jeffrey first noticed a lesion on his cheek, much like a pimple with a raised white circle around the outside that felt like a crater. Upon looking it up online, he realized that it looked much like other images of mpox and started to get worried, but figured it may disappear by morning. As the symptoms began to worsen—itchy bumps on his back, arms, neck, paired with fatigue and backache, he realized that maybe he contracted the disease from a jam-packed dance party that featured sweaty, shirtless gay men. Since the CDC explains the illness is not an STD and can come from contact, a sweaty dancy party is the perfect place for a disease like this to spread.

Eventually Jeffrey ended up in the ER, where he was diagnosed with mpox, and his doctor prescribed him the antiviral medicine TPOXX. The medicine helped improve his condition His condition improved (though the efficacy of the drug is still under investigation), but since mpox kills the tissue where the lesions appear, once the scab on his face finally fell out it took part of his skin with it, leaving a crater-like scar on his cheek. After almost a month in quarantine, Jeffrey was able to return to the real world with battle scars and an important message to others to get vaccinated.

 

Patient 2: 

Sebastian first contracted mpox in 2022 during Pride weekend after having sex with several men. A week later he got fatigue, chills, swollen lymph nodes and a high fever. Once the covid test came back negative, he realized that something else may be very wrong. Only two days after his symptoms began, he started getting a rash on his anus and rectum, which was itchy at first and looked like mosquito bites, until they turned to open sores which made it severely painful to use the bathroom or clean himself. At the same time these lesions spread all over his body, making him feel ugly, dirty, and scared. 

After a telehealth appointment, a visit to the ER, and much red-tape around treatment he was finally able to secure TPOXX, which required him to take the medicine with high-fat food. Eventually the lesions healed up and fell off. While he didn’t scar too badly outwardly, he definitely felt the scars of navigating the health system while extremely unwell and having to isolate in his apartment for long, lonely weeks on end. He regretted that he wasn’t able to get his vaccine before Pride weekend, and hopes enough people get vaccinated to make sure it doesn’t become endemic. 

What now?

As these personal stories illustrate, mpox is far more than just a fleeting health concern—it’s a serious illness that can lead to lasting physical and emotional scars. While the experience may have been different for each of us, the common thread remains: prevention through vaccination is key. If you haven’t already, make sure to get your mpox vaccine. A full vaccination regimen takes about six weeks and two doses, so don’t wait—your health, and the health of your community, depends on it. Don’t leave your health to chance—get vaccinated today.

The article is from our special issue on Mpox. You can access the full issue here.