Volume 28, Number 10—October 2022
Research Letter
Human Monkeypox without Viral Prodrome or Sexual Exposure, California, USA, 2022
, Ashley R. Styczynski, ChunHong Huang, Malaya K. Sahoo, Krithika Srinivasan, Benjamin A. Pinsky, and Jorge L. Salinas
Table
Monkeypox virus DNA levels in clinical specimens from a man with monkeypox. California, USA, 2022*
| Specimen type | Days since symptom onset | Viral copies/mL | log10 copies/mL | Ct value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lesion swab | 7 | 65,647,690 | 7.82 | 12.7 |
| Nasopharyngeal swab | 7 | 1,200 | 3.08 | 27.6 |
| Saliva | 10 | 3,030 | 3.48 | 26.3 |
| Rectal swab | 10 | Detected, unable to quantitate | NA | 30.2 |
| Conjunctival swab | 10 | Detected, unable to quantitate | NA | 32.6 |
| Oropharyngeal swab | 10 | Not detected | NA | NA |
| Semen | 10 | Not detected | NA | NA |
*The concentrations of the lesion, and self-collected rectal and conjunctival swab specimens are expressed in copies/mL phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). These samples, as well as the self-collected oropharyngeal swab, were collected dry and rehydrated with 1 mL PBS. The nasopharyngeal swab was healthcare worker–collected in 3 mL viral transport media. Cycle threshold values and estimated concentrations are based on the results from the non-variola orthopoxvirus quantitative PCR. All samples with values in copies/mL or reported as detected, unable to quantitate, were positive by both the non-variola orthopoxvirus qPCR and the clade 2/3 monkeypox qPCR. Ct, cycle threshold; NA, not applicable.