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Review
. 2023 Jul 20:10:1157670.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2023.1157670. eCollection 2023.

Human monkeypox: history, presentations, transmission, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

Mahdi Zahmatyar #  1   2 , Asra Fazlollahi #  2   3 , Alireza Motamedi  2 , Maedeh Zolfi  2 , Fatemeh Seyedi  2 , Seyed Aria Nejadghaderi  4   5 , Mark J M Sullman  6   7 , Reza Mohammadinasab  8 , Ali-Asghar Kolahi  9 , Shahnam Arshi  9 , Saeid Safiri  10   11
Affiliations
Review

Human monkeypox: history, presentations, transmission, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

Mahdi Zahmatyar et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Human monkeypox is a zoonotic infection that is similar to the diseases caused by other poxviruses. It is endemic among wild rodents in the rainforests of Central and Western Africa, and can be transmitted via direct skin contact or mucosal exposure to infected animals. The initial symptoms include fever, headache, myalgia, fatigue, and lymphadenopathy, the last of which is the main symptom that distinguishes it from smallpox. In order to prevent and manage the disease, those who are infected must be rapidly diagnosed and isolated. Several vaccines have already been developed (e.g., JYNNEOS, ACAM2000 and ACAM3000) and antiviral drugs (e.g., cidofovir and tecovirimat) can also be used to treat the disease. In the present study, we reviewed the history, morphology, clinical presentations, transmission routes, diagnosis, prevention, and potential treatment strategies for monkeypox, in order to enable health authorities and physicians to better deal with this emerging crisis.

Keywords: diagnosis; epidemiology; global; monkeypox; presentations; prevention; treatment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Total number of cases (A) and deaths (B) due to monkeypox in countries with a history of monkeypox. Data were retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Total number of cases (A) and deaths (B) due to monkeypox, between 1 January 2022 and 24 October 2022, in countries without a history of monkeypox. Data were retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/world-map.html.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
A timeline representing the outbreaks of monkeypox up to 2022. USA, United States America; UK, United Kingdom; DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo; CAR, Central African Republic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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