Monkeypox Outbreak Toolbox
Update | January 2020
Key references documents
- Human monkeypox information page (Geneva: World Health Organization).
- Monkeypox fact sheet (Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019).
Case definitionsWHO suggested outbreak case definition (under development)
WHO surveillance case definition
Suspected case:
An acute illness with fever >38.3⁰C (101⁰F), intense headache, lymphadenopathy, back pain, myalgia and intense asthenia followed one to three days later by a progressively developing rash often beginning on the face (most dense) and then spreading elsewhere on the body, including soles of feet and palms of hands.
Probable case:
A case that meets the clinical case definition, is not laboratory confirmed but has an epidemiological link to a confirmed or probable case.
Confirmed case:
A clinically compatible case that is laboratory confirmed.
Data collections toolsCase investigation form(s):
- Monkeypox case investigation form. In: National Monkeypox Public health Response Guidelines (Abuja: Federal Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control; 2019).
- Line list(s): Not available.
- Electronic tools: Not available.
Laboratory confirmation- Monkeypox: Laboratory procedures (Atlanta: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2015).
- Laboratory. In: National Monkeypox Public Health Response Guidelines (Abuja: Federal Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control; 2019).
Response tools and resources- National Monkeypox Public Health Response Guidelines (Abuja: Federal Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control; 2019).
TrainingMonkeypox: Introduction (online course) (Geneva: World Health Organization; 2019).
Other resources- Managing epidemics: Key facts about major deadly diseases (page 170) (Geneva: World Health Organization; 2018).
- Map of African countries reporting human monkeypox cases (1970–2019) (Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017).
- Monkeypox: Current status in West and Central Africa. Report of a WHO Informal Consultation (Geneva: World Health Organization; 2017).
- Emergence of monkeypox in West Africa and Central Africa, 1970–2017. Weekly Epidemiological Record No. 11, 16 March 2018.
- Human monkeypox. Clin Infect Dis. 2014;58(2):260–7. DOI: 10.1093/cid/cit703.