CDC doesn’t know if having HIV increases the likelihood of getting Mpox. Mpox can spread to anyone through prolonged, close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, as well as through contact with objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels), and surfaces that have been used by someone with Mpox, or contact with respiratory secretions, through kissing and other face-to-face contact.
CDC continues to monitor Mpox among people with HIV. During the current Mpox outbreak, there does not appear to be more severe Mpox illness in people who have HIV and are virally suppressed (having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood). In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) Mpox guidance states, “People living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy with suppressed viral load are not considered to be immunosuppressed.” However, people with HIV who are not virally suppressed may be at increased risk for severe illness and death from Mpox.
