Patients reported less fever and fatigue and more skin lesions in the genital and anal areas than typically seen with monkeypox, according to the study of 54 patients at health clinics. sex in London in May this year.
Monkeypox, a usually relatively mild viral disease that is endemic in several West and Central African countries, has caused more than 5,000 cases and one death outside these regions – mainly in Europe – since the beginning of May. Cases have also increased in countries where it is more commonly spread, according to the World Health Organization.
The London research, published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases Journal, follows suggestions from public health bodies such as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the epidemic – which is spreading mainly among men with sex with men – presents itself in an unusual way.
The authors, from a number of institutions including Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said case definitions needed to be reviewed to avoid cases being overlooked, especially as monkeypox can ” mimic” other common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) like herps and syphilis. The study also revealed that a quarter of monkeypox patients were HIV-positive, and a quarter of them had another STI.
“Misdiagnosis of infection can preclude the possibility of appropriate intervention and prevention of further transmission,” said Dr Ruth Byrne of the trust.
Monkeypox is spread by close contact, and researchers are working to establish whether it can also be transmitted through semen, the classic definition of sexual transmission. [L1N2Y20QL]
David Heymann, an infectious disease epidemiologist and WHO adviser on the outbreak, said it was important to control the spread without stigmatizing those affected.
“It involves working with the most-at-risk populations to try to help them understand how easy it is to prevent this infection – simply by avoiding physical contact in the genital area. [en cas d’ruption cutane]”, he told Reuters.