Q
I just had an amazing Atlanta Pride weekend; I went to a bunch of parties, met a bunch of cute guys, made out with a lot of them, and had sex with a few of them. Best Pride ever, except I just got a text saying that one of the guys I made out with tested positive for monkeypox. What should I do now?
A
If you have last week’s Pride issue of Peach, there’s an interview with Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the current Director of the CDC Division of HIV Prevention, who was appointed National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator to the White House where you can get a lot of information on the MPX outbreak. The short version is for you to seek care if you know you have been exposed to someone with monkeypox. If you haven’t been vaccinated, you may get the vaccine as post-exposure protection or prophylaxis (PEP). If you start to get symptoms (often flu-like in the beginning), get tested as soon as possible and isolate while you wait for your results. Assume that you have it until your results come back. I know it’s not the ideal post-Pride scenario but preventing and treating possible infection is key here.
