How Common Is Asymptomatic (or Presymptomatic) Monkeypox Infection?

During a time of high incidence of monkeypox (MPX), 6.5% of tested patients had asymptomatic anal MPX infection.

The ongoing MPX outbreak has largely spread among men who have sex with men (MSM), but the incidence and contagiousness of asymptomatic or presymptomatic MPX infection is not known. Researchers at a sexual health clinic in Paris, France, now report the rate of anal MPX infection among attendees with HIV infection or receipt of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Anal swabs routinely collected for sexually transmitted infection (STI) surveillance and negative for Neisseria gonorrhea and Chlamydia trachomatis were tested for MPX.

Between June 5 and July 11, 2022, 705 MSM with HIV or on PrEP were seen; of these, 271 had confirmed MPX. Among 200 patients with no MPX symptoms, negative STI tests, and successful MPX testing of anal swabs, 13 (6.5%) we…

Reviewing Author

Daniel Kaul, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNobelpharma; Pfizer

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Transplantation (Program Committee)

Daniel Kaul, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportNobelpharma; Pfizer

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Transplantation (Program Committee)

How Common Is Asymptomatic (or Presymptomatic) Monkeypox Infection?

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Reviewing Author