A new case study from France described three men who contracted mpox and then developed myocarditis a few days after initial symptom development. The study is published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection.
The men ranged in age from 21 to 32 and developed mpox symptoms following either homosexual or heterosexual unprotected sexual encounters. In all three men, skin symptoms, including mpox rash, developed first, followed by acute chest pain, elevated cardiac markers, and biological inflammatory syndrome compatible with myocarditis.
The men had no history of heart problems, and all were hospitalized and subsequently recovered. Only one patient was treated with the antiviral tecovirimat (Tpoxx).
"These cases suggest an association between monkeypox infections and cardiac inflammatory complications. The development of chest pain in an infected patient should not be underestimated and should lead to prompt investigations for myocarditis," the authors concluded.
Previously only five cases of myocarditis attributed to monkeypox had been described in the medical literature, all in 2022, the authors wrote.