Capital Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Seoul, Korea.
Disease Management Division, Deogyang-gu Public Health Center, Goyang, Korea.
Epidemiol Health. 2023;45:e2023040. doi: 10.4178/epih.e2023040. Epub 2023 Mar 23.
As few mpox cases have been reported in Korea, we aimed to identify the characteristics of mpox infection by describing our epidemiologic investigation of a woman patient (index patient, the third case in Korea) and a physician who was infected by a needlestick injury (the fourth case).
We conducted contact tracing and exposure risk evaluation through interviews with these 2 patients and their physicians and contacts, as well as field investigations at each facility visited by the patients during their symptomatic periods. We then classified contacts into 3 levels according to their exposure risk and managed them to minimize further transmission by recommending quarantine and vaccination for post-exposure prophylaxis and monitoring their symptoms.
The index patient had sexual contact with a man foreigner during a trip to Dubai, which was considered the probable route of transmission. In total, 27 healthcare-associated contacts across 7 healthcare facilities and 9 community contacts were identified. These contacts were classified into high (7 contacts), medium (9 contacts), and low (20 contacts) exposure risk groups. One high-risk contact was identified as a secondary patient: a physician who was injured while collecting specimens from the index patient.
The index patient visited several medical facilities due to progressive symptoms prior to isolation. Although the 2022 mpox epidemic mainly affected young men, especially men who have sex with men, physicians should also consider mpox transmission in the general population for the timely detection of mpox-infected patients.
由于韩国报告的猴痘病例较少，我们旨在通过描述一名女性患者（索引患者，韩国的第三例病例）和一名因针刺伤感染的医生（第四例病例）的流行病学调查，来确定猴痘感染的特征。
我们通过对这 2 名患者及其医生和接触者进行访谈，以及对患者在出现症状期间访问的每个设施进行现场调查，进行了接触者追踪和暴露风险评估。然后，我们根据接触者的暴露风险将其分为 3 个级别，并通过建议对接触者进行检疫和疫苗接种进行接触后预防以及监测其症状，来管理接触者以最大程度地减少进一步传播。
索引患者在前往迪拜的旅行中与一名外国男性发生了性接触，这被认为是可能的传播途径。总共确定了 27 名来自 7 家医疗机构的与医疗相关的接触者和 9 名社区接触者。这些接触者被分为高（7 名接触者）、中（9 名接触者）和低（20 名接触者）暴露风险组。一名高风险接触者被确定为二级患者：一名在从索引患者身上采集样本时受伤的医生。
索引患者在隔离前因症状逐渐加重而访问了几家医疗机构。尽管 2022 年的猴痘疫情主要影响年轻男性，尤其是男男性接触者，但医生也应该考虑在普通人群中传播猴痘，以便及时发现猴痘感染患者。
