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World J Clin Infect Dis. Nov 22, 2023; 13(4): 31-36
Published online Nov 22, 2023. doi: 10.5495/wjcid.v13.i4.31
Monkeypox in humans: Transmission, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and all recent updates
Taral Parikh, Ashish Goti, Kanica Yashi, Nilesh Dankhara, Sandhya Kadam, Ramesh Dihora, Kapil Paiwal, Narendrasinh Parmar
Taral Parikh, Department of Pediatrics, Hamilton Health Center, Harrisburg, PA 17104, United States
Ashish Goti, Department of Pediatric, Tulane Medical Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, United States
Kanica Yashi, Adult Medicine, Bassett Medical Center, Cooperstown, NY 13326, United States
Nilesh Dankhara, Department of Pediatric and Neonatology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216, United States
Sandhya Kadam, Department of Pediatric, Family Healthcare Network, Visalia, CA 93277, United States
Ramesh Dihora, Department of Pediatric, Nice Children Hospital, Surat 395003, India
Kapil Paiwal, Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon, Daswani Dental College and Research Center, Kota 324005, India
Narendrasinh Parmar, Department of Pediatrics, Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11212, United States
Author contributions: Parikh T, Goti A, Yashi K, Dankhara N, Kadam S, Dihora R, Paiwal K, and Parmar N contributed equally to study conception and design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of the results, and manuscript preparation.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Taral Parikh, MD, Doctor, Department of Pediatrics, Hamilton Health Center, 110 s 17th Street, Harrisburg, PA 17104, United States. parikhtaral@yahoo.com
Received: June 2, 2023
Peer-review started: June 2, 2023
First decision: August 2, 2023
Revised: September 21, 2023
Accepted: October 23, 2023
Article in press: October 23, 2023
Published online: November 22, 2023
Processing time: 172 Days and 9.5 Hours
Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is monitoring an epidemic of monkeypox infection in the United States. The outbreak is now global and more than 6900 cases have already been reported. There are 83 confirmed cases among children and adolescents, as shown in the report published on November 3, 2022, in the USA. However, monkeypox in pediatric patients is still infrequent (< 0.3% of total cases). Among cases in the United States, 16 cases were in children < 5 years, 12 in the age group 5-12 years, and 55 cases in adolescents 13-17 years old. In the adolescent age group, 89% were male. For children < 12 years of age, close physical contact with an adult household with monkeypox was the primary exposure, but for adolescents, male-to-male sexual contact was found more frequently. The CDC advised United States healthcare providers to remain vigilant for patients with a rash resembling monkeypox, even if there is no history of travel to a country with high risk. This article summarizes the history and epidemiology of monkeypox with a specific emphasis on clinical features and management in pediatric patients.

Keywords: Pediatric monkeypox; Smallpox; Monkeypox case definition; JYNNEOS vaccine; ACAM2000

Core Tip: This article describes current updates on the clinical features and management of pediatric monkeypox infection.