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Description

Tanapox is an uncommon viral infection primarily seen in equatorial Africa.


The name is derived from the Tana River Valley in Kenya.

 

Primary host: monkeys

 

Transmission: usually by mosquitoes, with rare human-to-human transmission

 

Clinical features:

(1) severe headache, backache and fever at onset

(2) tender, erythematous skin nodule with central umbilication

 

The skin lesion can later ulcerate.

 

A skin biopsy of the skin lesion will show eosinophilic inclusions consistent with a poxvirus infection.

 

Definitive diagnosis is usually made by PCR.


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