There are at least 15 cases of mpox infection in the country.

The main symptom of the viral disease is skin rashes as in smallpox. The rashes appear one week to 10 days after exposure to an infected person.

One way to prevent the spread of mpox is by avoiding close or skin-to-skin contact with an infected individual, or by self-isolating if one has it.

Obviously, the disease can be transmitted through sexual intercourse because of the physical contact and exchange of body fluids involved. The Department of Health advises sexually active people to abstain from sex if a partner is suspected to be a carrier. It also suggested practicing virtual sex through video calls or “self-pleasure” as a temporary alternative.

With a mobile phone or computer, make believe sex is possible. But it’s not only intimacy that can be mimicked by technology.

Kelly Cunningham of Ronkonkoma, Long Island, New York wanted so much to be a mother with a baby she could breastfeed. Short of having a baby of her own, the 29-year-old found another way that she shared on social media.

Cunningham started taking care of baby Jennifer whom she bought as a gift to herself on her 27th birthday. She shared on TikTok a video showing herself pretending to breastfeed the Reborn Doll.

“I can’t explain how it happened, but I suddenly got so attached to her and spent that week buying her clothes and eventually her own bed that sits next to the end of my bed in my room,” she said, according to the New York Post.

So far, Cunningham has become a mother to seven lifelike dolls, all of which she takes care of like real children. She dresses them up and admittedly pretends to breastfeed some of them, which was frowned upon by some netizens.

She also concocts a fake formula to feed her “older” daughters.