40% of patients with monkeypox suffer complications that require medical treatment, according to a study of the disease in Spain in which several hospitals have participated published in The Lancet magazine.
The observational study, which has been carried out in three sexual health units in Madrid and Barcelona, ??determines that almost half of the patients analyzed presented complications that required medical treatment, mainly to reduce the pain associated with proctitis (25 %), tonsillar ulceration (11%) and penile edema (8%).
Three patients even required admission for complications derived from these manifestations.
Furthermore, all participants presented skin lesions, in the anogenital or perioral region. Another relevant conclusion of the research points to “skin-to-skin contact” during sexual intercourse as the “dominant factor” in the transmission of monkeypox, over airborne transmission.
On the other hand, they concluded that, given the short incubation period, pre-exposure vaccination of high-risk groups is likely to be more effective than post-exposure vaccination for infection control.
Finally, the researchers note that viral loads are “surprisingly” higher in swabs (the samples collected) from skin lesions compared to relatively low levels in pharyngeal swabs.
