Monkey pox: the virus could cause serious neurological complications

Fever, muscle aches, fatigue… and encephalitis. Monkeypox could, like Covid-19, lead to serious neurological and psychiatric complications. This is at least what emerges from several studies, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine and on the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) website.

Two young Americans suffered from severe brain inflammation

The CDC was the first to sound the alarm. On September 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it had identified “two US cases of encephalomyelitis associated with acute Monkeypox infection” during the summer of 2022.

The symptoms of these two young men – in perfect health before the infection – appeared just a few days after being in contact with the virus (fever, chills, malaise, itching, rash, muscle pain, etc.).

The neurological complications arrived, for their part, a little later: the two young patients indeed suffered respectively from encephalomyelitis on the 5th day and 9th day of the disease.

Experts say, however, that they do not know if this sudden attack on the brain and spinal cord is the result of a “direct viral neuroinvasion or a parainfectious autoimmune process”.

Epileptic seizures and encephalitis

In parallel, a large meta-analysis (19 clinical trials; 1512 participants) published on September 8 in the journal eClinicalMedicine confirms that monkeypox seems to affect the central nervous system of infected people – their brains.

The results show that 2.7% of patients had at least one epileptic seizure and 2% of them had encephalitis.

These results could ultimately justify increased monitoring of neurological symptoms in people at risk and/or already infected.

Encephalitis, although rare, can be fatal. Sequelae and cerebral lesions may also persist (neurological handicaps).