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. 2022 Jun;27(22):2200421.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.22.2200421.

Epidemiological, clinical and virological characteristics of four cases of monkeypox support transmission through sexual contact, Italy, May 2022

Andrea Antinori  1 , Valentina Mazzotta  1 , Serena Vita  1 , Fabrizio Carletti  1 , Danilo Tacconi  2 , Laura Emma Lapini  2 , Alessandra D'Abramo  1 , Stefania Cicalini  1 , Daniele Lapa  1 , Silvia Pittalis  1 , Vincenzo Puro  1 , Marco Rivano Capparuccia  3 , Emanuela Giombini  1 , Cesare Ernesto Maria Gruber  1 , Anna Rosa Garbuglia  1 , Alessandra Marani  1 , Francesco Vairo  1 , Enrico Girardi  1 , Francesco Vaia  1 , Emanuele Nicastri  1 ; INMI Monkeypox Group  4
Collaborators, Affiliations

Epidemiological, clinical and virological characteristics of four cases of monkeypox support transmission through sexual contact, Italy, May 2022

Andrea Antinori et al. Euro Surveill. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Since May 2022, an outbreak of monkeypox has been ongoing in non-endemic countries. We report four cases in Italy in young adult men reporting condomless sexual intercourse. The patients are in good clinical condition with no need for specific antiviral drugs. Biological samples from seminal fluid were positive for monkeypox viral DNA. For many other viruses found in semen there is no evidence of sexual transmission. The possibility of sexual transmission of monkeypox virus needs to be investigated.

Keywords: MSM; emerging infectious diseases; monkeypox; seminal fluid; west African clade.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pictures from 2 patients with the horizontal disease progression from the same patient for each site, monkeypox cases, Italy, May 2022
Figure 2
Figure 2
Phylogenetic tree of monkeypox cases, Italy, May 2022 (n = 4)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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