The preparedness and knowledge of pharmacists and general practitioners in managing human monkeypox: a highly spreading infectious disease.

Background: After the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of pharmacists was emphasized in the battle against highly spreading and infectious diseases like human Monkeypox (hMPV).
Aim: Assess the hMPV knowledge of the community, clinical pharmacists, and general practitioners (GPs) and raise their awareness about hMPV.
Methods: A web-based questionnaire was distributed randomly to Egyptian community pharmacists, clinical pharmacists, and GPs from all governorates. The questionnaire was divided into two sections: one for demographic information and the other for hMPV knowledge (nature of the disease, incubation period, transmission, symptoms, Prophylaxis, Prevention, and management). The evidence-based answers were provided after completing the submission. Data were descriptively analyzed using IBM SPSS software.
Results: From a total of 753 respondents, only 710 participants were included in the final data analysis. The % of respondents who presented good total knowledge scores about hMPV was comparable between study groups (P = 0.826). There were no differences between groups identifying different disease clinical characteristics (P = 0.689) and hMPV management (P = 0.324). Community pharmacists had better knowledge scores than GPs in the prevention and prophylaxis domain (P = 0.037).
Conclusion: Pharmacists and GPs have good and similar knowledge levels of hMPV. However, a gap exists in recognizing the right hMPV incubation period, prophylaxis, and omitting antibiotics from hMPV management. Pharmacists and GPs are the frontline health care providers (HCPs), so they would require more knowledge enhancement about such contagious diseases to offer the best possible patient care.
(© 2023. Dr. Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar and Auckland UniServices Ltd.)