[Características epidemiológicas de pacientes con viruela símica y su relación con eventos de hospitalización en Colombia].

Objective: Since the beginning of 2022, there has been an unusual outbreak of monkeypox in non-endemic countries that has alerted the international community. In Colombia, there are no recent studies on the epidemiology of patients in this new epidemic. Therefore, aim of this article was to establish the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with monkeypox and their relationship with the frequency of hospitalization and other variables of clinical notification.

Methods: An observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study on monkeypox cases in Colombia between May and September 2022 was executed. Mann-Whitney U test was applied to contrast hypotheses between hospitalization and sociodemographic and quantitative notification variables; Fisher's exact test was used to contrast with the qualitative ones.

Results: Between May and September 2022, there were 1,260 cases of monkeypox reported in Colombia, 75% of the these were registered in Bogotá D.C. 99% (1,248) of those infected were male with a median age of 32.82% of the patients were from strata 2 and 3 (low to medium-low income). The source of infection was unknown in just over 80% of cases. Less than 1% belonged to ethnic groups. Only 3% required hospitalization. A significant statistically association was found between the frequency of hospitalization, being a woman (p=0.038), Afro-Colombian (p=0.024) and subsidized regime (p=0.009). No association of hospitalization was found with age, but it was found with the days from the onset of symptoms/rash to notification/diagnosis (p<0.05).

Conclusions: Monkeypox cases are concentrated in the capital and other Andean departments of Colombia. Most of these progress without seriousness, without deaths. Men are the most affected population group. Women, afro-colombians and subsidized patients deserve special attention because they are more prone to hospitalization. Reducing the number of days from symptoms or rash to diagnosis and notification is key to avoiding serious cases.