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. 2022 Jun 27;59(8):636–642. doi: 10.1007/s13312-022-2578-2

Monkeypox Disease Outbreak (2022): Epidemiology, Challenges, and the Way Forward

Chandrakant Lahariya 1,3,✉, Archana Thakur 1, Nonita Dudeja 2
PMCID: PMC9419123  PMID: 35762024

Abstract

The biggest-ever outbreak of monkeypox disease in non-endemic countries started in May, 2022. Though no monkeypox case has been reported from India, till mid-June, 2022, yet, considering the rate of spread to the non-endemic countries, there is an urgent need of better understanding of the monkeypox virus and disease epidemiology to help clinicians, public health specialists, and policymakers to be prepared for any eventuality. This review summarises the monkeypox disease epidemiology, clinical features, therapies, vaccines and outlines the measures for preparedness and response for a possible outbreak. The disease is known to cause severe outcome in children, pregnant women, and immunocompromised hosts and this group need to be given special attention. The monkeypox disease outbreak (2022) in non-endemic countries should be used as an opportunity by India and other low and middle income countries to strengthen public health surveillance and health system capacity for outbreak and epidemic preparedness and response.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s13312-022-2578-2 and is accessible for authorized users.

Keywords: COVID-19, Smallpox, Vaccines, Zoonoses

Electronic supplementary material

13312_2022_2578_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (137.8KB, pdf)

Web Table I Key Characteristic of Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccines

Contributors: CL: conceptualized the review, prepared the outline of the paper, conducted initial literature review and prepared the first draft; AT,ND: conducted additional literature review, contributed to the writing of the first draft and analysis. All authors read, reviewed, and approved the final draft.

Funding: None; Competing interests: None stated.

Footnotes

Note: Additional material related to this study is available with the online version at https://www.indianpediatrics.net

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Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Supplementary Materials

13312_2022_2578_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (137.8KB, pdf)

Web Table I Key Characteristic of Smallpox and Monkeypox Vaccines

Articles from Indian Pediatrics are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

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