| Literature DB >> 35961373 |
Irith De Baetselier1, Christophe Van Dijck2,3, Chris Kenyon4,5, Jasmine Coppens4, Johan Michiels6, Tessa de Block4, Hilde Smet4, Sandra Coppens6, Fien Vanroye4, Joachim Jakob Bugert7, Philipp Girl7, Sabine Zange7, Laurens Liesenborghs4, Isabel Brosius4, Johan van Griensven4, Philippe Selhorst6, Eric Florence4, Dorien Van den Bossche4, Kevin K Ariën6, Antonio Mauro Rezende4,8, Koen Vercauteren9,10, Marjan Van Esbroeck11.
Abstract
The magnitude of the 2022 multi-country monkeypox virus (MPXV) outbreak has surpassed any preceding outbreak. It is unclear whether asymptomatic or otherwise undiagnosed infections are fuelling this epidemic. In this study, we aimed to assess whether undiagnosed infections occurred among men attending a Belgian sexual health clinic in May 2022. We retrospectively screened 224 samples collected for gonorrhea and chlamydia testing using an MPXV PCR assay and identified MPXV-DNA-positive samples from four men. At the time of sampling, one man had a painful rash, and three men had reported no symptoms. Upon clinical examination 21-37 days later, these three men were free of clinical signs, and they reported not having experienced any symptoms. Serology confirmed MPXV exposure in all three men, and MPXV was cultured from two cases. These findings show that certain cases of monkeypox remain undiagnosed and suggest that testing and quarantining of individuals reporting symptoms may not suffice to contain the outbreak.Entities:
Year: 2022 PMID： 35961373 DOI： 10.1038/s41591-022-02004-w
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Nat Med ISSN： 1078-8956 Impact factor: 87.241