Yesika Díaz

Handling editor Irith De Baetselier X @hectorgranota Contributors All the signatories participated in the preparation of the article. HM-R wrote the first version and the final edition, which was reviewed by CA and JC. MM-F and YD did the statistical analysis. VGS, GF-R and ARM have been in charge of the laboratory analysis. CP, DP, HA, MV, HGQ and JSC have collaborated with the recruitment of participants in the community entities. SG helped with the field work.

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Abstract The recent monkeypox virus (MPXV) outbreak was of global concern and has mainly affected gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). Here we assess prevalence of MPXV in high-risk populations of GBMSM, trans women (TW) and non-binary people without symptoms or with unrecognized monkeypox (Mpox) symptoms, using a self-sampling strategy. Anal and pharyngeal swabs are tested by MPXV real-time PCR and positive samples are tested for cytopathic effect (CPE) in cell culture.