ArticleNature medicine2022
Retrospective detection of asymptomatic monkeypox virus infections among male sexual health clinic attendees in Belgium.
Article in Nature medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 146 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
146 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 269 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of Asymptomatic Monkeypox Virus Prevalence in Nonendemic Regions, 2022-2024.Emerging infectious diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Mpox Airborne Transmission: A Systematic Review.Reviews in medical virology · 2026Pooled it
- Global epidemiology, viral evolution, and public health responses: a systematic review on Mpox (1958-2024).Journal of global health · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Prevention of sexual transmission of mpox: a systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis of approaches.Infectious diseases (London, England) · 2024Pooled it
- Laboratory validation and clinical performance of a saliva-based test for monkeypox virus.Journal of medical virology · 2023Pooled it
- Mpox seroprevalence among sex workers and men who have sex with men preceding sustained urban outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Epidemiology and infection · 2026Article
- Extensive cryptic circulation sustains mpox among men who have sex with men.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- The Risk from Reopening International Travel During a Disease X Pandemic: A Case Study of SARS-CoV-2.Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis · 2026Article
- AIEgen-Based Proactive Early Warning System and Precise Treatment Strategy for Monkeypox Prevention and Control.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Sero-genomic evidence for occult mpox exposure in healthy Nigerian adults.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Behavior change and infection induced immunity led to the decline of the 2022 Mpox outbreak in Berlin.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- Serological evidence uncovers undocumented mpox exposure in febrile patients in Nigeria.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Immune profiling of mpox survivors reveals divergent durability of antibody and T cell responses.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Review
- From neglected to notoriety: a review of Mpox clinical features, virology, epidemiology, treatment and prevention strategies.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2025Review
- Phylodynamic inference suggests introductions as main driver of Mpox Clade II outbreak in 2022 in Slovenia.Epidemiology and infection · 2025Article
- Evaluating the effectiveness of international travel controls to identify MPXV-infected travelers: a simulation study.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Multi-epitope vaccines: charting a new frontier in monkeypox prevention and control.Human cell · 2025Review
86 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
23 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The magnitude of the 2022 multi-country monkeypox virus (MPXV) outbreak has surpassed any preceding outbreak. It is unclear whether asymptomatic or otherwise undiagnosed infections are fuelling this epidemic. In this study, we aimed to assess whether undiagnosed infections occurred among men attending a Belgian sexual health clinic in May 2022. We retrospectively screened 224 samples collected for gonorrhea and chlamydia testing using an MPXV PCR assay and identified MPXV-DNA-positive samples from four men. At the time of sampling, one man had a painful rash, and three men had reported no symptoms. Upon clinical examination 21-37 days later, these three men were free of clinical signs, and they reported not having experienced any symptoms. Serology confirmed MPXV exposure in all three men, and MPXV was cultured from two cases. These findings show that certain cases of monkeypox remain undiagnosed and suggest that testing and quarantining of individuals reporting symptoms may not suffice to contain the outbreak.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.