If you develop monkeypox should you take a medicine to treat it? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Antiviral medicines for monkeypox infection do exist, but Noreen Hynes, an infectious diseases expert at Johns Hopkins, says unless you are immunocompromised or live in circumstances where you might put others at risk of infection if you have monkeypox, you may not really need them.

Noreen Hynes: Even if someone is sick or actually has monkeypox they don’t necessarily need to receive an antiviral. Because particularly the strain that’s circulating in the US and worldwide is something that is usually mild and has a very low case fatality rate until we have enough antivirals to be able to actively do that we probably are not going to do that in someone who can stay quarantined. But someone who needs to be in a congregate living space we might be more likely to use.  :32

Hynes anticipates more availability of antivirals for monkeypox soon, as well as vaccines. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.