Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of monkeypox cases in Brazil in 2022: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE

to describe epidemiological and clinical characteristics of monkeypox (MPX) in Brazil, from the identification of the first case, on June 7, 2022, to Epidemiological Week (EW) 39, ending on October 1, 2022.

METHODS

this was a descriptive study of cases notified to the Ministry of Health; trends were analyzed based on the number of confirmed and probable cases per EW; the cases were also described according to demographic and clinical variables.

RESULTS

out of 31,513 notifications, 23.8% were confirmed; 91.8% were male; 70.6% were cis men; and median age was 32 years. Fever (58.0%), adenomegaly (42.4%), headache (39.9%) and rash (37.0%) were the most frequent symptoms; 27.5% reported being immunosuppressed, 34.6% were living with HIV and 10.5% had a sexually transmitted infection; three deaths were recorded.

CONCLUSION

the MPX case profile was similar to that of other countries; surveillance actions must be strengthened to control the outbreak.