Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Mar;19(3):213-223.
doi: 10.1007/s12519-022-00630-5. Epub 2022 Nov 15.

Monkeypox and the perinatal period: what does maternal-fetal medicine need to know?

Kai Yan  1 , Lu-Kun Tang  2   3 , Fei-Fan Xiao  1 , Peng Zhang  1 , Chun-Mei Lu  1   4 , Li-Yuan Hu  1 , Lai-Shuan Wang  1 , Guo-Qiang Cheng  1 , Wen-Hao Zhou  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Monkeypox and the perinatal period: what does maternal-fetal medicine need to know?

Kai Yan et al. World J Pediatr. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Background: After the global elimination of smallpox, monkeypox has become the most threatening orthopoxvirus to human health. Very few studies have been reported on pregnant women and newborns. In the case of monkeypox infection, the virus can cause serious adverse pregnancy events in women, which can lead to fetal or neonatal death.

Data sources: We made a comprehensive review after an extensive literature search in the PubMed/Medline database and websites concerning smallpox and monkeypox.

Results: Two case reports reported a total of nine pregnant women, six of whom had fetal deaths. In the autopsy of a stillbirth, researchers found that the placenta was infected with monkeypox virus, but the mechanism of infection remains unclear. Smallpox vaccine should be administered to acutely exposed pregnant women and newborns. Several novel recombinant vaccinia immunogloblin (rVIG) and human-specific monoclonal antibodies are being developed for the prevention and treatment of monkeypox virus infection. After the fetus was delivered, the newborn should take a bath as soon as possible to remove the amniotic fluid and dirt from the body. The appropriate isolation protocol for the newborn should be selected according to the infection status of the mother. It is not known whether monkeypox virus is present in breast milk, and pasteurized breast milk can be given to newborns when breastfeeding is considered.

Conclusion: This review presents an overview of monkeypox in the perinatal period and guides the future research direction.

Keywords: Fetal; Maternal; Monkeypox; Newborn.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose. No financial benefits have been received.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Management of pregnant women and newborns exposed to or infected with the monkeypox virus (Created with BioRender.com and re-print copyright obtained)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ladnyj ID, Ziegler P, Kima E. A human infection caused by monkeypox virus in Basankusu territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bull World Health Organ. 1972;46:593–597. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fenner F, Henderson DA, Arita I, Jezek Z, Ladnyi ID. Smallpox and its eradication. Geneva: World Health Organization. 1988
    1. Nguyen P-Y, Ajisegiri WS, Costantino V, Chughtai AA, MacIntyre CR. Reemergence of human monkeypox and declining population Immunity in the context of urbanization, Nigeria, 2017–2020. Emerg Infect Dis. 2021;27(4):1007. doi: 10.3201/eid2704.203569. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sale TA, Melski JW, Stratman EJ. Monkeypox: an epidemiologic and clinical comparison of African and US disease. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2006;55(3):478–481. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2006.05.061. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saxena SK, Ansari S, Maurya VK, Kumar S, Jain A, Paweska JT, et al. Re-emerging human monkeypox: a major public-health debacle. J Med Virol. 2022 doi: 10.1002/jmv.27902. - DOI - PubMed

Substances