Maternal and Fetal Outcomes Among Pregnant Women With Human Monkeypox Infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo

• Published in: The Journal of infectious diseases Vol. 216; no. 7; pp. 824 - 828
• Main Authors: Mbala, Placide K., Huggins, John W., Riu-Rovira, Therese, Ahuka, Steve M., Mulembakani, Prime, Rimoin, Anne W., Martin, James W., Muyembe, Jean-Jacques T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: US Oxford University Press 17.10.2017
• Subjects: Abortion, Spontaneous - virology; Adult; Democratic Republic of the Congo - epidemiology; Female; Humans; Monkeypox virus - isolation & purification; Mpox (monkeypox) - epidemiology; Mpox (monkeypox) - pathology; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - epidemiology; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - virology; Pregnancy Outcome; Viral Load; VIRUSES; Young Adult; maternal-fetal infection; abortion; Monkeypox; Democratic Republic of Congo; orthopoxvirus; pregnancy
• ISSN: 0022-1899; 1537-6613; 1537-6613
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jix260

Human monkeypox is an endemic disease in rain-forested regions of central Democratic Republic of Congo. We report fetal outcomes for 1 of 4 pregnant women who participated in an observational study at the General Hospital of Kole (Sankuru Province), where 222 symptomatic subjects were followed between 2007 and 2011. Of the 4 pregnant women, 1 gave birth to a healthy infant, 2 had miscarriages in the first trimester, and 1 had fetal death, with the macerated stillborn showing diffuse cutaneous maculopapillary skin lesions involving the head, trunk and extremities, including palms of hands and soles of feet.