Demographic, transmission, and clinical characteristics associated with human monkeypox infection, October 2022: a systematic analysis for World Health Organization database and brief review

Abstract

The monkeypox (MPX) is an unusual viral disease which, until recently, has rarely been detected outside of Africa. A total of 71,237 confirmed cases of MPX, as of October 6th, 2022, had been discovered in 109 countries in the matter of months. The risk factors of MPX are men who have sex with the same gender (prevalence 90.0%, 95% CI, 89.5 to 90.4), sexual exposure to sex partners with MPX (prevalence 87.3%, 95% CI 6.7 to 87.8), human immunodeficiency virus-positive individuals (prevalence 49.1%, 95% CI, 48.4 to 49.8), people who have travel history to Africa (prevalence 16.9%, 95% CI, 16.2 to 17.7), hospitalization (prevalence 7.3%, 95% CI 7.0 to 7.6), health workers (prevalence 3.2%, 95% CI 2.9 to 3.5), admission to intensive care unit (prevalence 0.18%, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.28), and death (prevalence 0.03%, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.06). According to an international cohort of 60,510 individuals, the MPX can result in rash (all types; 83.6%, n=21,472), fever (57.8%, n=14,842), rash on the whole body (49.6%, n=12,730), genital rash (45.5%, n=11,696), headache (29.4%, n=7,556), fatigue (29.3%, n=7,523), lymphadenopathy(all types) (29.0%, n=7,453), muscle ache (26.9%, n=6,919), general lymphadenopathy (24.3%, n=6,235), local lymphadenopathy (18.6%, n=4,779), rash of unknown location (12.7%, n=3,271), sore throat, oral rash, chills, cough, vomiting, and other signs and/or symptoms in the order of frequency, with a subtle difference between men and women. The median delay between the date of onset and reporting was 6 days (interquartile range, 3 to 9). Results that an African endemic virus has been identified more in worldwide populations than in Africa has shocked scientists which led to the question of why an African disease is becoming a global illness and why the world is currently encountering this problem.

Clinical manifestations of human Mpox infection: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Clustered cases of monkeypox (mpox) in non‐endemic countries were reported in May 2022, resulting in the largest mpox outbreak to date 1 . Human mpox is caused by the monkeypox virus (MPOXV), one of the Orthopoxvirus genus, which is genetically close to the variola or smallpox virus 2–4 . The lesions of mpox are known to be indistinguishable from those of smallpox 5,6 .…”

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with mpox during the 2022 mpox outbreak compared with those before the outbreak: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Mpox virus (MPXV) is a member of the Poxviridae family, a type of double‐stranded DNA virus that causes mpox in humans and other animals 1–3 . Until the global epidemic in May 2022, human MPXV was considered a neglected zoonotic disease, primarily thought to be endemic to rainforests in rural areas of Central and Western Africa.…”