US ophthalmologists have urged eyecare professionals (ECPs) to be vigilant in spotting symptoms of monkeypox-related ophthalmic disease (MPXROD), which may be associated with severe ocular and visual morbidity.
Writing in JAMA Ophthalmology, authors from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at Harvard Medical School and the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, noted that during the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s 2010-2013 clade I outbreak, conjunctivitis patients had higher rates of systemic symptoms (nausea, fatigue, lymphadenopathy, chills/sweating) and of being ‘bedridden’. “Corneal disease in the setting of monkeypox can include ulcerative keratitis, immune stromal keratitis and neurotrophic keratitis and may result in corneal scarring and bacterial superinfection. Monkeypox conjunctivitis may include a conjunctival follicular reaction, discrete vesicular or papular conjunctival lesions, conjunctival ulceration, pseudomembranes and/or subconjunctival nodules,” they said.
The authors acknowledged, however, that much of what is known about MPXROD is drawn from previous outbreaks of the clade I variant, with clade II being behind the current outbreak.
