Monkeypox: How to know the skin rash or lesions on your body is not monkeypox

Monkeypox, which has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization, is spreading rapidly across countries. Recently, the U.S. also declared monkeypox a public health emergency, urging people to be more vigilant and cautious.

As per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), monkeypox can spread via close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact. This includes direct contact with a monkeypox rash, scabs, or body fluids from a person with monkeypox or touching objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels), and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox or contact with respiratory secretions by an infected person.

Furthermore, one must steer clear of kissing, hugging, having sexual intercourse with anyone who has been infected with the monkeypox virus.

Currently, apart from general symptoms like fever, fatigue, body pain, rashes and lesions on the face, palms and even genitals are common signs of monkeypox. This has sparked concerns in people who develop any sort of rashes or skin issues, which is why, here we have broken down ways to differentiate a monkeypox rash with other rashes.

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How long a rash lasts usually depends on its cause and severity.

As far as monkeypox symptoms are concerned, they usually begin within 3 weeks of exposure to the virus, as per the CDC. If a person develops flu-like symptoms, they will usually develop a rash 1-4 days later, notes the health body.

Other rashes can develop within minutes to hours of exposure and can last 2 to 4 weeks.

One distinctive feature of monkeypox rash is that it goes through four stages: macular, papular, vesicular, to pustular, before it finally starts scabbing and peeling over.

Macules are flat-based lesions that typically start on the face before spreading on to other parts of the body.

Papules occur by day 3. During this stage, the rash is slighly raised and firm.

Vesicles take place by day 4 or 5 and are characterised by raised bumps filled with clear fluid.

Postules occur by day 6 or 7, when the lesions become filled with yellowish fluid or pus.

As the body heals of the virus, which is by day 14 or more, the rashes or the lesions are likely to become scabs, which will start falling off.

A rash from monkeypox and chickenpox can seem similar in many ways. From being itchy to sharing the way it progresses, it can become difficult to tell the two apart.

However, while monkeypox-related rash usually occurs within one to three days of a fever, chickenpox rash starts to appear 1 to 2 days after the fever.

While monkeypox rash often begins on the face and spreads to other body parts, chickenpox rash can first show on the chest, back, and face. It develops into papules (raised lesions) and fluid filled pustules and then takes the form of a scab and falls off.

Caused by tiny mites, scabies is a skin condition that leads to intense itching and may be characterised by thin, wavy tunnels made up of tiny blisters or bumps on the skin, as per the Mayo Clinic.

Unlike monkeypox, it is often found between toes and fingers, in the armpits, around the waist, insides of the wrists, inner elbows, soles of the feet, and more.

If you're someone who has had scabies in the past, symptoms may start within a few days of exposure, else it can take as long as six weeks for symptoms to show.

Allergic reactions often cause rashes that may vary in size or severity depending on the cause. Contact dermatitis is an allergic reaction that causes painful or itchy skin rash. The rash can appear anywhere from 24–48 hours later and a person must come into contact with the allergen repeatedly before a reaction actually occurs.

Besides the distinctive features of each rash, including the monkeypox, the associated symptoms can reveal a lot about the condition.

Fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches and backache and headache are some of the primary symptoms of monkeypox, which can be accompanied by flu-like symptoms before the rash.