Study Reveals that Monkeypox can Also be Asymptomatic
- Monkeypox is transmitted by close contact with people who have symptomatic infection, and all those infected are assumed to show symptoms.
- A recent study has found that people can be infected with monkeypox without showing any typical or atypical symptoms.
Symptoms assumed
- Person infected with monkeypox is expected to develop symptoms.
- Virus spread through close contact with people who show symptoms.
- But asymptomatic transmission can change and challenge efforts to contain monkeypox outbreaks.
- According to WHO, extent to which asymptomatic infection may occur is unknown.
Similar viral loads
- Researchers note that cycle threshold (Ct) values in anorectal samples taken from asymptomatic men were similar to or lower than those in samples taken from typical monkeypox skin lesions.
- This suggests similar viral loads immaterial of whether they showed symptoms or not.
- Asymptomatic carriership, with high viral loads in anal mucosa, could be significant driver of transmission.
Unnoticed skin lesions
- Transmission of virus in absence of noticeable symptoms might explain why self-isolation has been insufficient to halt the epidemic thus far.
- More studies are needed to confirm or refute the findings of these researchers.
- Meanwhile, more efforts should be directed at identifying asymptomatic cases through increased contact tracing and screening high-risk populations.