OUR monkeypox It can sometimes lead to neurological or psychiatric complications such as encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), confusion and seizures, according to a new British study.

Researchers at University College London (UCL) and King’s College, led by Dr. Jonathan Rogers from the Institute of Mental Health in the UCL Department of Psychiatry, which published a related publication in the medical journal eClinicalMedicine, conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. -analysis of all scientific studies to date (19 in total) and monkeypox data up to May 2022 involving a total of 1502 people from different countries (USA, UK, Nigeria, Congo, etc.).

In addition to relatively common symptoms such as muscle pain (in at least 50% of patients), fatigue, headaches, anxiety, and depression, 2–3% of patients have been found to experience more severe neurological complications. The analysis estimated that 2.7% of monkeypox patients had at least one attack, 2.4% had confusion, and 2% had encephalitis.

The researchers stressed the need to further study how much and how monkeypox can affect the brain. In addition, they reported that the disease may cause a higher rate of mental health problems than other infectious diseases due to the presence of severe rashes and possibly associated social stigma (given that transmission occurs mainly through sexual contact).

“We found that serious neurological complications such as encephalitis and seizures, while rare, occur in enough cases of monkeypox to be of concern, so our study highlights the need for further study of this issue. There is also strong evidence that emotional disorders such as depression and anxiety are relatively common in people with monkeypox,” Dr. Rogers said.

However, there is no more recent data (after May of this year) showing how common these complications are in the current international monkeypox outbreak. It is also unclear how long neurological complications last and whether they can last long after the acute phase of the disease. In addition, the study included patients, most of whom were hospitalized, so it is not certain that neurological complications have a similar incidence of 2-3% even in the mildest cases.

Monkeypox primarily causes a skin rash and fever. This can be fatal, but in the current outbreak in Europe and the US, cases are usually mild and the fatality rate is well below one death per 1,000 confirmed cases. While monkeypox has been endemic in Central and West Africa for decades, this year was the first year that the virus that causes it has spread worldwide.

Source: RES