Clinical features of monkeypox in adults

Abstract

Introduction: monkeypox (MPV) is a rare, self-limiting disease that has occurred in various regions of the world. It is endemic to western and central Africa. At the beginning the symptoms are non-specific such as headache, asthenia, lethargy, myalgia and fever that begins before the appearance of skin eruptions which go through stages of evolution (ranging from macules to scabs). Objective: to describe the clinical characteristics of monkeypox in adults. Methods: a bibliographic review was carried out, through an electronic search in the main databases (PubMed, Taylor & Francis, Scopus and ScienceDirect). It was included articles published between January 01 st, 2018 and October 25th, 2022. Results: characteristics of monkeypox at different stages of the disease were identified. Among the most prevalent lesions are vesiculopustular skin lesions, followed by fever, headache and pruritus; and among the least frequent were arthralgia, myalgia, odynophagia, and lesions in the oral and perioral region. Conclusions: it is concluded that there are different clinical characteristics in each stage of monkeypox.