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According to a British study, the symptoms of monkeypox described in Europe are different from previous epidemics elsewhere in the world. Genital and anal lesions are more common, while fatigue and fever are rarer.
The World Health Organization is calling on states to step up their fight against monkeypox. In Europe, cases have tripled in the past two weeks: 4,500 confirmed cases have been identified there, including more than 1,000 in the United Kingdom alone and nearly 500 in France. On the research front, the disease appears to have different characteristics compared to areas where it is already endemic.
less fever
Monkeypox is normally characterized almost systematically by fever usually accompanied by other symptoms such as headaches, muscle aches, fatigue, chills…
But in this study carried out on about fifty patients, of which more than half are cases which declared themselves in England last May, the bouts of fever are absent or less pronounced, and generally less frequent and less long. Patient hospitalizations are also less frequent. In total, only 57% of patients in the study experienced fever.
But the differences don’t stop there.
Lesions located differently
In addition, the lesions, characteristic of the disease and which appear one to three days after the fever, were more localized around the genital area in the volunteers of the study (for 94% of them). Contrary to what was known until then, with patients showing lesions all over the body, and in particular on the face and neck.
For Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo, this is not surprising: “We are faced with different populations, particularly from a genetic point of view. The virus can also mutate and give different symptoms. The good news is that it seems to result in less severe cases, with fewer hospitalizations. This is a situation to watch out for though.”.
A disease that has become sexually transmitted?
These findings lead the study authors to believe that the first British cases were infected through contact during sex, but this does not mean that the disease became sexually transmitted. Moreover, these differences in symptoms do not sign the genetic modification of the virus either.
On the other hand, this supports the idea of transmission by contact, through the lesions of another patient. Remember that monkeypox is transmitted by very close contact and 99% of cases currently concern young men (between 20 and 40 years old) having sex with other men, as highlighted by the World Health Organization.
In conclusion, the authors believe that their observations argue for broadening the definition of the disease, which could make it possible to better detect new cases, by no longer focusing so much on fever in particular.