Is Human Mpox a New Sexually Transmitted Infection in Korea That Should Be Monitored?

Human monkeypox (mpox) outbreaks have been reported in more than 110 countries, with more than 86,930 confirmed cases. The World Health Organization has realized the seriousness of personal transmission and has declared a global health emergency against the infection. Traditionally, contact with inf...

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Main Author: Gilho Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Korean Association of Urogenital Tract Infection and Inflammation 2023-08-01
Series:Urogenital Tract Infection
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Online Access:http://euti.org/upload/pdf/uti-18-2-35.pdf
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author Gilho Lee
author_facet Gilho Lee
author_sort Gilho Lee
collection DOAJ
description Human monkeypox (mpox) outbreaks have been reported in more than 110 countries, with more than 86,930 confirmed cases. The World Health Organization has realized the seriousness of personal transmission and has declared a global health emergency against the infection. Traditionally, contact with infected animals in a few endemic countries has been a major transmission route of the mpox virus. On the other hand, the global mpox outbreak in 2022 has been primarily associated with sexual networks of men who have sex with men (MSM) and bisexual men exhibiting high-risk behaviors. Their common symptoms are initial fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and subsequent skin rashes. These presentations did not consistently occur in the 2022 outbreak. Many patients presented with skin lesions on the anogenital areas without prodromal symptoms. In addition, the atypical characteristics of the recent outbreak may result in a misdiagnosis of other skin lesions, such as chickenpox. Furthermore, infected persons are frequently co-infected with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with similar skin lesions. The newly confirmed cases in Korea on April 2023 must have been infected through community transmission because these new patients had not traveled overseas in the past three months. Therefore, mpox is something that everybody should be concerned about in Korea. Medical practitioners must know the characteristics of the infection because patients with mpox may visit their offices with some genital lesions or other STIs. The clinical information from this paper may broaden and deepen the understanding of human mpox and curb the early transmission of the infection.
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spelling doaj-art-5c2a7a17084c4e4db2e90c1ed3db34752025-08-20T02:47:33ZengKorean Association of Urogenital Tract Infection and InflammationUrogenital Tract Infection2465-82432465-85102023-08-01182354410.14777/uti.2023.18.2.35398Is Human Mpox a New Sexually Transmitted Infection in Korea That Should Be Monitored?Gilho Lee0Department of Urology, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, KoreaHuman monkeypox (mpox) outbreaks have been reported in more than 110 countries, with more than 86,930 confirmed cases. The World Health Organization has realized the seriousness of personal transmission and has declared a global health emergency against the infection. Traditionally, contact with infected animals in a few endemic countries has been a major transmission route of the mpox virus. On the other hand, the global mpox outbreak in 2022 has been primarily associated with sexual networks of men who have sex with men (MSM) and bisexual men exhibiting high-risk behaviors. Their common symptoms are initial fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and subsequent skin rashes. These presentations did not consistently occur in the 2022 outbreak. Many patients presented with skin lesions on the anogenital areas without prodromal symptoms. In addition, the atypical characteristics of the recent outbreak may result in a misdiagnosis of other skin lesions, such as chickenpox. Furthermore, infected persons are frequently co-infected with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) with similar skin lesions. The newly confirmed cases in Korea on April 2023 must have been infected through community transmission because these new patients had not traveled overseas in the past three months. Therefore, mpox is something that everybody should be concerned about in Korea. Medical practitioners must know the characteristics of the infection because patients with mpox may visit their offices with some genital lesions or other STIs. The clinical information from this paper may broaden and deepen the understanding of human mpox and curb the early transmission of the infection.http://euti.org/upload/pdf/uti-18-2-35.pdfmonkeypoxkoreasexually transmitted infection
spellingShingle Gilho Lee
Is Human Mpox a New Sexually Transmitted Infection in Korea That Should Be Monitored?
Urogenital Tract Infection
monkeypox
korea
sexually transmitted infection
title Is Human Mpox a New Sexually Transmitted Infection in Korea That Should Be Monitored?
title_full Is Human Mpox a New Sexually Transmitted Infection in Korea That Should Be Monitored?
title_fullStr Is Human Mpox a New Sexually Transmitted Infection in Korea That Should Be Monitored?
title_full_unstemmed Is Human Mpox a New Sexually Transmitted Infection in Korea That Should Be Monitored?
title_short Is Human Mpox a New Sexually Transmitted Infection in Korea That Should Be Monitored?
title_sort is human mpox a new sexually transmitted infection in korea that should be monitored
topic monkeypox
korea
sexually transmitted infection
url http://euti.org/upload/pdf/uti-18-2-35.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT gilholee ishumanmpoxanewsexuallytransmittedinfectioninkoreathatshouldbemonitored