Monkeypox: An old foe, with new challenges

Andrew Bosworth; Dominic Wakerley; Catherine F Houlihan; Sowsan F Atabani

doi:10.1016/j.infpip.2022.100229

Monkeypox: An old foe, with new challenges

Infect Prev Pract. 2022 Jun 30;4(3):100229. doi: 10.1016/j.infpip.2022.100229. eCollection 2022 Sep.

Authors

Andrew Bosworth¹, Dominic Wakerley^{2

3}, Catherine F Houlihan^{2

3

4}, Sowsan F Atabani^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Infection Service, Clinical Laboratory Services, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, B15 2GW, UK.
² Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory, UK Health Security Agency, Porton Down, Manor Farm Road, Salisbury, SP4 0JG, UK.
³ Department of Pathology, University College London Hospital, UK.
⁴ Department of Infection and Immunity, University College London, UK.
⁵ Regional Public Health Laboratory Birmingham, UK Health Security Agency, Birmingham, B9 5SS, UK.

Abstract

At first glance, a multi-country outbreak of monkeypox in 2022 seems unusual. However, the re-emergence and expansion of this viral disease beyond its endemicity in West and Central Africa had previously been predicted as a possible consequence of a decline in population immunity following smallpox eradication. Since the 13th of May 2022, cases of monkeypox have been reported in at least 28 WHO member states from within 4 regions (the Americans, European, Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions). This summary describes the multi-country outbreak to date, with an emphasis on patient demographics, common symptoms and signs, clinical management (including infection prevention measures) and clinical outcomes of the cases in the United Kingdom, which has so far reported the largest number of laboratory confirmed cases. The future implications of this outbreak, including preventative measures to curb the current outbreak, prevent future outbreaks and the likelihood of the disease becoming endemic in the UK are also discussed.