Online Health Information Seeking for Mpox in Endemic and Nonendemic Countries: Google Trends Study.

Findings demonstrate a surge in online heath information seeking relating to mpox after the first in-country case was publicized in all the nonendemic countries and in Ghana and Nigeria among the endemic counties. The observed increases in mpox searching levels are characterized by sharp but short-lived periods of searching before steep declines back to levels observed prior to the publication of the first case. These findings emphasize the importance of the provision of accurate, relevant online public health information during disease outbreaks. However, online health information seeking behaviors only occur for a short time period, and the provision of accurate information needs to be timely in relation to the publication of new case-related information.