Clinical and epidemiological features of mpox in a Brazilian reference center for HIV and sexually transmitted infections: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The 2022 mpox outbreak has affected disproportionately people living with HIV (PLWH) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study to evaluate factors associated with laboratory diagnosis of mpox among suspected cases, and access differences between PrEP users and PLWH with confirmed diagnostic.

Results: 394 mpox suspected cases were analyzed, 309 (78.4%) confirmed. Most patients with mpox were PLWH (54.4%) and 99 (32%) PrEP users. Mpox cases were likely to be between 25 and 39 years old (aOR=2.8; p=0.042), men who have sex with men/bisexual or transgender women (aOR=17.2; p< 0.001) and to have fever (aOR=4.7; p< 0.001), adenomegaly (aOR=7.2; p< 0.001) and multiple vesicular lesions (aOR=4.2; p< 0.001). Comparing PrEP users to PLWH with confirmed mpox, PrEP users had lesions predominantly with exclusive genital involvement (p=0.016); while PLWH had higher extragenital involvement (p=0.018).

Conclusions: PrEP users and PLWHA were the main epidemiological groups in our cohort. Recognizing the differences between vulnerable populations can contribute to the development public policies to control mpox in settings with reduced access to vaccines.