Reposted by Megan O'Driscoll
When mpox is not mpox: varicella and measles in DR Congo thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Congratulations
@bugwaja and team for this nice work calling for efforts to transform mpox treatment centers from monofacal isolation units into integrated hubs for acute febrile rash illnesses.
thelancet.com
When mpox is not mpox: varicella and measles in DR Congo
The global epidemiology of eruptive skin diseases remains poorly characterised, particularly in settings with insufficient health-care access and weak surveillance systems.1,2 Eruptive rashes are a common feature of monkeypox virus, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), measles, syphilis, and other infections. Varicella is often mistaken for poxvirus infection despite having been clinically distinguished from smallpox as early as 1767.3 Ambiguity in clinical diagnosis paired with infrequent laboratory confirmation creates challenges in resource-limited settings, such as the DR Congo, where mpox and varicella outbreaks can co-occur.
