When a Neglected Tropical Disease Goes Global: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Italian Physicians towards Monkeypox, Preliminary Results

Monkeypox (MPX) has been regarded as a neglected tropic disease of Western and Central Africa since the early 70s. However, during May 2022, an unprecedent outbreak of MPX has involved most of European Countries, as well as North and South America. While the actual extent of this outbreak is being assessed by health authorities, we performed a pilot study on specific knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) in a sample of Italian medical professionals (24-30 May 2022; 10,293 potential recipients), focusing on Occupational Physicians (OP), Public Health Professionals (PH), and General Practitioners (GP), i.e., medical professionals more likely involved in the early management of incident cases. More specifically, we inquired into their attitude on the use of variola vaccine in order to prevent MPX infection. From a total of 566 questionnaire (response rate of 5.5%), 163 participants were included in the final analyses. Knowledge status was quite unsatisfying, with substantial knowledge gaps on all aspect of MPX. In turn, analysis of risk perception suggested a substantial overlooking of MPX as a pathogen, particularly when compared to SARS-CoV-2, TB, HIV, and HBV. Overall, 58.6% of respondents were somehow favorable to implement variola vaccination in order to prevent MPX, and the main effectors of this attitude were identified in having been previously vaccinated against seasonal influenza (adjusted Odds Ratio [aOR] 6.443, 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI] 1.798-23.093), and being favorable to receive variola vaccine (aOR 21.416; 95%CI 7.290-62.914). In summary, the significant extent of knowledge gaps and the erratic risk perception, associated collectively stress the importance of appropriate information campaigns among first-line medical professionals.