Monkeypox 2022 vs. COVID-19: a Review on a National Health Emergency with Emphasis on Cutaneous Manifestations

Purpose of Review Monkeypox virus (Mpox), a rare viral zoonotic disease, has recently resurfaced as a public health emergency of international concern in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading globally in both endemic and non-endemic countries. Thus, in this comprehensive narrative review, we attempted to provide an overview of the background, virology, epidemiology, clinical, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Mpox, with a focus on its cutaneous manifestations and a comparison with COVID-19 heterogeneous skin manifestations. Recent Findings In the current outbreak, however, several unusual clinical and skin manifestations have been reported. This Mpox 2022 outbreak has so far highlighted several distinguishing characteristics from what we have previously learned about this virus: the unexpected high appearance in non-endemic regions, the novel mode of transmission in homosexual men, the presence of atypical clinical (rectal, gastrointestinal, and respiratory) and cutaneous manifestations (a few or even single cutaneous lesions, lesions in various developmental stages, lesions before the onset of prodromal symptoms, as well as lesions with higher incidence in groin, genital and/or perineal region). Summary In this review, we sought to summarize what we know so far on MPXV2022 virology, epidemiology, clinical and cutaneous manifestation, investigation, diagnosis, prevention and treatment, and what are the correlations with COVID-19 clinical and cutaneous manifestation.