Doctors in Bergamo have linked monkeypox to ocular inflammation. A new symptom to consider.
The monkeypox virus has killed four people outside Africa for the first time last week. The World Health Organization has even designated the disease as a public health emergency. After a mutation, the virus, which until now was restricted to certain regions of Africa, continues to spread and the discoveries continue to surprise specialists. Thus, new symptoms are regularly described by various hospital departments around the world.
The discoveries were shared on specialized platforms to alert colleagues who might Confusion between monkeypox and other diseases.
Officially, the list of the main symptoms is as follows:
– Fever
– Headache
– aches
– Tired
Blister eruption, consisting of fluid-filled blisters that develop into dryness, crusting, and then scarring.
– Itchy.
– The vesicles are more concentrated on the face, in the anogenital region, the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, they can be located but also on the trunk and extremities.
The mucous membranes of the mouth and genital area are also affected.
The lymph nodes may be swollen and painful under the jaw, in the neck, or in the groin.
Sore throats have also been reported.
Other symptoms have been discovered recently
In recent weeks, some other symptoms have been observed. Thus, wounds in the mucosal areas have since been included in the official list. This is not yet the case with the swelling of the penis (due to edema) and the more recently observed rectal pain.
These days, Italian doctors from Bergamo have revealed A new symptom that affects the eye.
Thus, doctors describe, in The Lancet, the case of a “39-year-old bisexual white male who presented to our sexual health clinic with proctitis (inflammation of the lining of the rectum) and a cluster of vesicles (2–3 mm) in the anal area.” The man indicated that he had been receiving treatment to prevent HIV since 2019 and that he had returned from trips to France and Germany.
A type of conjunctivitis
What challenged doctors, however, was that 7 days before the vesicles appeared, the young man developed “dorsal myalgia, suspected (uncountable) fever and a non-productive cough which disappeared within 48 hours”. But above all, “Four days later, an evolution Conjunctivitis of the left eyewith a small Blister on lower eyelid“.
The vesicle in the corner of the eye was still present several weeks after its appearance.
During his visit to the Bergamo clinic, “the smallest vesicle in the lower eyelid was still present” and did not cause any damage to the cornea. A sample of eye blisters showed Monkeypox positive DNA.
If “after 3 weeks of onset of symptoms, the ocular and dermal vesicles are no longer visible and the eye is nearly healed,” the Italian doctors call their colleagues, facing an ongoing monkeypox epidemic, to include “the diagnosis of patients with monkeypox.” Vesicular and pustular eye lesionsParticularly in the presence of epidemiological links or risk factors.”
Open vaccination in France
As a reminder, in the face of the spread of monkeypox, France is providing a preventive vaccination for the groups most vulnerable to the virus.
Thus, since July 11, 2022, in addition to people who have been in risky contact with a sick person, people who fall within the indicators maintained by the Public Health Services can schedule a nationwide vaccination appointment:
Men who have sex with men report multiple partners.
Transgender people who report multiple sexual partners.
Sex workers.
Professionals working in places of sexual consumption.
Vaccination may also be considered on a case-by-case basis for health professionals who have to care for patients.
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