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Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox Cases in Serbia in 2022

INTRODUCTION: Mpox viral infection, previously known as an endemic zoonosis typical for West and South Africa, appeared in the Republic of Serbia in early summer among young and middle-aged men, particularly Belgrade's citizens. The aim of this study is to evaluate the epidemiological and clini...

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Autores principales: Jovanovic, V, Djuric, P, Drakulovic, M, Plavsa, D, Jovanovic, S, Medarevic, A
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10596283/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.1267
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author Jovanovic, V
Djuric, P
Drakulovic, M
Plavsa, D
Jovanovic, S
Medarevic, A
author_facet Jovanovic, V
Djuric, P
Drakulovic, M
Plavsa, D
Jovanovic, S
Medarevic, A
author_sort Jovanovic, V
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Mpox viral infection, previously known as an endemic zoonosis typical for West and South Africa, appeared in the Republic of Serbia in early summer among young and middle-aged men, particularly Belgrade's citizens. The aim of this study is to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox cases registered in Serbia in 2022. METHODS: We conducted a national observational study using the national surveillance anonymized data of people who met case definition criteria on Mpox infection and confirmation by the polymerase chain reaction method. Clinical data were collected by standardized case investigation form used for epidemiological and clinical evaluation of cases. RESULTS: A total of 43 cases reported from the 17th of June to the 5th of October 2022 were men, aged between 20 and 54 (median age, 35 years), 74,4% living in Belgrade. Three-quarters of cases reported sex with other men as a potential disease transmission route. Out of the total, 15 (34,9%) Mpox cases had HIV co-infection. HIV-positive patients were older than negative cases (p = 0,023). The mean incubation period among patients who reported exposition to a probable or confirmed case was 9,3 (2-22) days. The most common systemic symptoms were fever (86%) and lymphadenopathy (44,2%). Three patients with common symptoms of fever were hospitalized. All cases presented a rash, mostly in pustule form (90,7%). The dominant localization of the skin lesions was the anogenital region (62,5%), whereas 9,3% of the patient's lower extremities were affected. CONCLUSIONS: In Serbia, the outbreak of Mpox infection affected young and middle-aged men, mainly situated in the capital of Serbia. The disease had a polymorphic presentation, including a characteristical rash of the anogenital region implying the main transmission route. KEY MESSAGES: • Health promotion and community engagement regarding Mpox are very important in large urban settings. • Risk communication should be prioritized to promote safe sexual practices in vulnerable populations.
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spelling pubmed-105962832023-10-25 Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox Cases in Serbia in 2022 Jovanovic, V Djuric, P Drakulovic, M Plavsa, D Jovanovic, S Medarevic, A Eur J Public Health Poster Displays INTRODUCTION: Mpox viral infection, previously known as an endemic zoonosis typical for West and South Africa, appeared in the Republic of Serbia in early summer among young and middle-aged men, particularly Belgrade's citizens. The aim of this study is to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox cases registered in Serbia in 2022. METHODS: We conducted a national observational study using the national surveillance anonymized data of people who met case definition criteria on Mpox infection and confirmation by the polymerase chain reaction method. Clinical data were collected by standardized case investigation form used for epidemiological and clinical evaluation of cases. RESULTS: A total of 43 cases reported from the 17th of June to the 5th of October 2022 were men, aged between 20 and 54 (median age, 35 years), 74,4% living in Belgrade. Three-quarters of cases reported sex with other men as a potential disease transmission route. Out of the total, 15 (34,9%) Mpox cases had HIV co-infection. HIV-positive patients were older than negative cases (p = 0,023). The mean incubation period among patients who reported exposition to a probable or confirmed case was 9,3 (2-22) days. The most common systemic symptoms were fever (86%) and lymphadenopathy (44,2%). Three patients with common symptoms of fever were hospitalized. All cases presented a rash, mostly in pustule form (90,7%). The dominant localization of the skin lesions was the anogenital region (62,5%), whereas 9,3% of the patient's lower extremities were affected. CONCLUSIONS: In Serbia, the outbreak of Mpox infection affected young and middle-aged men, mainly situated in the capital of Serbia. The disease had a polymorphic presentation, including a characteristical rash of the anogenital region implying the main transmission route. KEY MESSAGES: • Health promotion and community engagement regarding Mpox are very important in large urban settings. • Risk communication should be prioritized to promote safe sexual practices in vulnerable populations. Oxford University Press 2023-10-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10596283/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.1267 Text en © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Poster Displays
Jovanovic, V
Djuric, P
Drakulovic, M
Plavsa, D
Jovanovic, S
Medarevic, A
Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox Cases in Serbia in 2022
title Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox Cases in Serbia in 2022
title_full Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox Cases in Serbia in 2022
title_fullStr Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox Cases in Serbia in 2022
title_full_unstemmed Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox Cases in Serbia in 2022
title_short Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of Mpox Cases in Serbia in 2022
title_sort epidemiological and clinical characteristics of mpox cases in serbia in 2022
topic Poster Displays
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10596283/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.1267
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