Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Kindrachuk umanitoba. Emerging Infectious Diseases is a publication of the U. This publication is in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. All text from this work may be reprinted freely. Use of these materials should be properly cited. We report a cluster of clade I monkeypox virus infections linked to sexual contact in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Case investigations resulted in 5 reverse transcription PCR—confirmed infections; genome sequencing suggest they belonged to the same transmission chain. This finding demonstrates that mpox transmission through sexual contact extends beyond clade IIb. Clade I infections are associated with greater disease severity and more pronounced rash and had demonstrated increased human-to-human transmission compared with clade II before the global emergence of clade IIb 5.
Travel-related and animal importation—related cases have been reported in nonendemic regions 6. Clinical characteristics during the epidemic included fever, physical asthenia or lethargy, and lymphadenopathy with high concentrations of papules, pustules, and vesicles on the skin of the genital and perianal organs.
Rectal pain, bleeding, and purulent bloody stools were also common 12 , A recent case series assessing data from clade IIb infections in persons living with HIV demonstrated that increased disease severity and fatal disease were also linked to CD4 counts Although clade I—related infections can occur through close contacts, including through fomites, transmission through sexual contact has not been reported previously 14 , However, given the high sequence homology across MPXV clades and the increased disease severity associated with clade I, clarifying whether sexual contact—related infections occur across MPXV clades is critical.
We report a confirmed cluster of clade I—associated mpox associated with sexual contact. An alert was issued by the Kwango Provincial Health Division, DRC, after reports from civil society organizations in March regarding a resident with skin rashes and pruritus. During the investigation, the national and provincial health teams instituted training for local healthcare clinics to raise awareness of the clinical signs and mode of transmission for mpox and HIV, including sexual contact in MSM.
