The 2022 monkeypox outbreak: Lessons from the 640 cases in 36 countries

Abstract

Dear Editor, Since the beginning of 2020, the world has been grappling with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Coincidentally, in May 2022, at least 640 suspected or confirmed cases of the monkeypox virus (MPXV) were documented in 36 countries of different continents (Table 1) [1]. This virus was first discovered in 1958 by Preben von Magnus in laboratory crab-eating Macaques, Macaca fascicularis [[2], [3], [4]]. MPXV is an enveloped, double-stranded DNA virus of genus orthopoxvirus and family Poxviridae which are all antigenically interrelated and cause relatively similar symptoms. MPXV can infect, and be detected in, a large range of hosts including non-human primates, African squirrels, and rodents [4,5]; its spillover occasionally causes sporadic infections among humans [6]. Show more