CDC Requests Information about Pain from Monkeypox

With more than 5,000 confirmed cases in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is asking healthcare providers and specialty societies to document and report pain experiences in patients who have contracted monkeypox. The incidence of pain from monkeypox lesions has been noted as being “out of proportion to expectation,” in a letter from CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, to healthcare providers.   

“Surgeons may also see this disease and the skin lesions in their practice," said ACS Regent Kenneth Sharp, MD, FACS.  And a common reason for hospitalization for monkeypox has been for pain control and management, with which surgeons are well-equipped to help.

As valuable contributors to frontline healthcare in the US and as pain control experts, the CDC is seeking feedback from surgeons and other physicians to inform optimal approaches for pain management. “To this end, CDC encourages providers and researchers to document and report the patient pain experience to determine the incidence of pain, predictive factors for developing pain, and successful methods to pain control associated with monkeypox,” wrote Dr. Walensky.

The chief medical officer for the CDC Monkeypox Response, John T. Brooke, MD, recently delivered a presentation summarizing what clinicians need to know about monkeypox to the Council of Medical Specialty Societies. View the presentation slides.

More information about monkeypox, including a US map and case count, is available on the CDC website.