Mpox Traced Back to 2016 Before 2022 Global Outbreak

Research indicates that Mpox, previously identified as Monkeypox, has been present in human circulation since 2016, predating the 2022 global health crisis it triggered. (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
APOBEC3 deaminase editing in mpox virus as evidence for sustained human transmission since at least 2016

Go to source) The virus, transmitted mainly via close physical contact, induces an //illness resembling smallpox, albeit milder in severity. The study, published in the journal Science, showed that Mpox virus (MPXV) mutated to better spread between humans.

For the study, the international team of researchers including from the UK, Switzerland, Nigeria and Portugal, sequenced the genome of the Mpox virus. Their findings revealed that the clade IIb had spread around the world, and it appeared different from other strains that had been seen before in Africa.

Mpox: New Insights

Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease that occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of central and west Africa and is occasionally exported to other regions.It was first identified in monkeys in research laboratories in the 1950s, and it was not until 1970 that the first human case was discovered.

Importantly, they found that infections in humans led to the production of an enzyme called APOBEC3, which was found to cause further mutations that alter genome base pairs. Tracing the evolutionary history of the virus the team found such mutations go back to approximately 2016, strongly suggesting that the virus has been transmittable between humans since that year.

Revised Perspectives on MPXV Transmission

"These observations of sustained MPXV transmission present a fundamental shift to the perceived paradigm of MPXV epidemiology as a zoonosis and highlight the need for revising public health messaging around MPXV as well as outbreak management and control," said the corresponding author Aine O'Toole, from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Edinburgh in the paper.

O'Toole added that "any new or nascent outbreak may have potential to go global" if it is able to silently infect and evolve in humans."We need to focus on detecting outbreaks even when case numbers are low, and find a way of stamping it out before it establishes in the human population," she was quoted as saying to the Guardian.

Reference:

1. APOBEC3 deaminase editing in mpox virus as evidence for sustained human transmission since at least 2016 - (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg8116)

Source-IANS