Professor Fiona Lyons:

The time period is variable depending on the presentation that the person has. Generally, speaking, if a person has skin lesions they need to separate themselves from their household and sexual contacts until all the skin lesions have healed. A bit like in the case of somebody who has chicken pox, until the lesions have healed, scabbed and the scabs have fallen off, they must isolate from household contacts during that time. If a person has lesions on a part of the body that is covered, he or she may be able to come out of isolation when no new lesions are appearing, before everything has healed over. If an individual has lesions on the face or hands that could come into contact with somebody in normal social interactions such as shaking hands or having a cup of coffee together, he or she must wait. The point I am trying to make is that it is quite variable. By the time some individuals have their diagnosis of monkeypox, they may be very close to resolution. The range of symptoms that people present with is quite variable. Some people may just have one lesion, whereas some individuals may have very extensive lesions involving many parts of their body.