Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 44 cases of mpox in the Changsha City
This study investigated the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with monkeypox in the Chang-sha City,and analyzed the results of laboratory and ultrasound examinations,to provide a basis for monkeypox epidemic pre-vention and control.Epidemiological characteristics,clinical manifestations,laboratory tests,and ultrasound examinations for 44 patients with monkeypox hospitalized at the First Hospital of Changsha between June 29,2023,and December 15,2023,were analyzed.Differences in laboratory results were compared between patients with monkeypox with versus without HIV in-fection.The median age of the 44 patients with monkeypox was 33 years.All patients were men who had sex with men within 21 days before the diagnosis of monkeypox.A total of 81.82%patients were unmarried,and 38.64%were unemployed.Moreo-ver,40.91%of patients were infected with Treponema pallidum,and 61.36%patients were infected with HIV,of whom 88.89%received ART.The median incubation period was 5 days.The median time from onset to hospitalization was 6.88 days.The median hospitalization time was 10.51 days.All patients presented with skin rash,distributed primarily in the repro-ductive organs,limbs,facial features,trunk,and perianal area.Most patients had fever.Lymph node enlargement oc-curred mainly in the groin.Compared with patients who were co-infected with HIV,the other patients had lower levels of neutrophils,and higher levels of red blood cells,albumin,aspartate aminotransferase,total bilirubin,and creatine kinase isoenzymes.Most patients with monkeypox in the Changsha City were middle-aged or young men who had sex with men.The main manifestations included rash,fever,and enlarged lymph nodes.