Ocular Monkeypox — United States, July–September 2022
Shama Cash‐Goldwasser, Sarah M. Labuda, David W. McCormick, Agam K. Rao, Andrea M. McCollum, Brett W. Petersen, James Chodosh, Catherine Brown, Suk Yin Chan-Colenbrander, Caitlin M. Dugdale, Michael Fischer, Amy Forrester, Jayne Griffith, Rachel Harold, Bruce W. Furness, Vivian Huang, Aaron R. Kaufman, Ellen Kitchell, Rachel Lee, Nicholas Lehnertz, Ruth Lynfield, Ketzela J. Marsh, Lawrence C. Madoff, Nelson Nicolasora, Dharmendra Patel, Roberto Pineda, Trey Powrzanas, Afsoon Roberts, Maria Teresa Seville, Ami A. Shah, Joshua M. Wong, Jana M. Ritter, Caroline A. Schrodt, Elliot Raizes, Sapna Bamrah Morris, Jeremy A.W. Gold, Amimah Asif, Amy Beeson, Ramon Bhatia, Brian F. Borah, Kevin Chatham-Stevens, Rewa Choudhary, Eleanor S. Click, Thomas D. Filardo, Romeo R. Galang, Julia C. Haston, Sophia Hsu, Gurpreet Kaur, Anne Kimball, James T. Lee, Grace E. Marx, Janet M. McNicholl, Maureen J. Miller, R. López Noé, Siobhán O’Connor, Kevin O’Laughlin, Kia Padgett, Gail L. Thompson, Farrell A. Tobolowsky, Isaac Zulu
Abstract
Two patients had HIV-associated immunocompromise and experienced delays between clinical presentation with monkeypox and initiation of monkeypox-directed treatment. Four patients were hospitalized, and one experienced marked vision impairment. To decrease the risk for autoinoculation, persons with monkeypox should be advised to practice hand hygiene and to avoid touching their eyes, which includes refraining from using contact lenses (2). Health care providers and public health practitioners should be aware that ocular monkeypox, although rare, is a sight-threatening condition. Patients with signs and symptoms compatible with ocular monkeypox should be considered for urgent ophthalmologic evaluation and initiation of monkeypox-directed treatment. Public health officials should be promptly notified of cases of ocular monkeypox. Increased clinician awareness of ocular monkeypox and of approaches to prevention, diagnosis, and treatment might reduce associated morbidity.