Monkeypox in Pregnancy: Susceptibility, Maternal and Fetal Outcomes, and One Health Concept

Abstract

An overlooked endemic zoonosis in Africa, monkeypox infection, which has spread to multiple non-endemic countries since early May 2022, was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization on July 23, 2022. As of August 8, 2022, over 28,000 confirmed and probable monkeypox cases were reported globally, including 6 deaths from the African continent and 4 deaths from the non-endemic regions. Although the current outbreak mostly belongs to the West African clade, which has a lower-case fatality ratio of <1%, there is limited data among immune-weakened individuals infected with monkeypox. It is still unknown if pregnant people are more susceptible to monkeypox. In addition, it is unclear whether having monkeypox increases the risk of birth defects. This commentary addresses reported cases of monkeypox infection in pregnancy and the possible maternal and fetal outcomes, including congenital monkeypox, miscarriage, or stillbirth. Factors behind the escalating global monkeypox outbreak, as well as the prevention and control of monkeypox via the One Health approach, are discussed to shed light on curbing the continuous emergence of monkeypox. Copyright © 2022 Najimudeen et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0.

Keywords

• Monkeypox
• Orthopoxvirus
• Pregnancy
• Mother-to-Child Transmission
• Vertical Transmission
• Zoonosis