Mpox vaccination and treatment: a systematic review

Abstract

The Human monkeypox virus (mpox) belongs to the Poxviridae family, characterized by double-stranded DNA. A 2022 outbreak, notably prevalent among men who have sex with men, was confirmed by the World Health Organization. To understand shifting prevalence patterns and clinical manifestations, we conducted a systematic review of recent animal and human studies. We comprehensively searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Clinicaltrials.gov, reviewing 69 relevant articles from 4,342 screened records. Our analysis highlights Modified Vaccinia Ankara - Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN)’s potential, though efficacy concerns exist. Tecovirimat emerged as a prominent antiviral in the recent outbreak. However, limited evidence underscores the imperative for further clinical trials in understanding and managing monkeypox.

Keywords:

• Monkeypox
• mPV
• mPXV
• pre-exposure
• post-exposure
• mpox

Acknowledgements

We dedicate this article to all the women of Iran. Also, the authors would like to thank the Clinical Research Development Unit (CRDU) of Loghman Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran for their help and support in conducting this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

All data included in this published article and its additional supplementary files; are openly available.

Author contributors

I.A, A.E, and S.A had the idea for this Review and designed the protocol. A.E, S.A, S.K, M.S, and R.A independently conducted and verified the searches, screening, and data extraction with I.A support wrote a first draft of the paper. Finally, the final version of the manuscript was prepared by A.E, S.A and I.A. The first and second authors contributed equally. The third, fourth and fifth authors contributed equally.

All authors discussed the findings and participated in the final manuscript’s review and editing. All authors had complete access to the study’s data and assume responsibility for the choice to submit for publication.