Retrospective Analysis Revealed an April Occurrence of Monkeypox in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Herein, we present our findings of an early appearance of the Monkeypox virus in Prague, Czech Republic. A retrospective analysis of biological samples, carried out on the 28th of April, revealed a previously unrecognized case of Monkeypox virus (MPxV) infection. Subsequent data analysis confirmed that the virus strain belongs to the ongoing outbreak. Combined with clinical and epidemiological investigations, we extended the roots of the current outbreak at least back to 16th of April, 2022.

Keywords: infection; monkeypox virus; orthopoxvirus; outbreak; poxviridae; zoonosis.

Figure 1

Orthopoxvirus particles. Transmission Electron Microscopy. magnification—150,000×. The length of the white bar in the right bottom corner represents 100 nm.

Figure 2

Maximum-likelihood phylogenetic tree: samples presumably originating from the current Monkeypox outbreak are highlighted; only (relevant) bootstrap values >85 were reported.

Figure 3

Timeline of the earliest reported Monkeypox virus infections from the European outbreak; only cases with no direct link to Africa were considered. Concerning the case from the Czech Republic, we provide three different dates: “sample acquisition” refers to a date when biological sample was acquired for molecular analyses; “disease onset” refers to a date when first symptoms of the disease were manifested; “day of infection” refers to a date when the infection was presumably transmitted (risk contact). Concerning the Portugal and United Kingdom cases, we report dates that were publicly available [9,10].