Monkeypox virus isolation from a semen sample collected in the early phase of infection in a patient with prolonged seminal viral shedding

Abstract

The unexpected increase in human monkeypox cases in non-endemic countries that began in May, 2022, is raising concerns of a novel global infectious threat. Since the first human case in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus has become endemic in several countries in central and western Africa.1 Imported cases have been sporadically reported outside Africa (in England, the USA, Singapore, and Israel), with the majority of cases associated with travellers returning from endemic countries, or due to nosocomial contact or contact with infected imported rodents.