Outbreak of Monkeypox

Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease that has recently developed into a challenging and threatening epidemic in the world. The steady increase of monkeypox cases in Africa has been ignored by the global scientific community for the past decades. It is only this year that outbreaks of monkeypox in non-endemic countries have attracted widespread global attention.

We need to understand the origin and development of monkeypox and human monkeypox outbreaks if we want to understand the current monkeypox epidemic scientifically and objectively. Therefore, Creative Biolabs provides some relevant information about the human monkeypox outbreak for our clients to browse and refer to before their research.

You can click on the headings below to read the content that interests you.

• The History of Monkeypox
• Monkeypox Outbreak in the United States, 2003
• Monkeypox Outbreak in Nigeria-2017 to 2019
• Monkeypox Cases
• Monkeypox Outbreak-2022

Key Events in the Monkeypox Outbreak

Fig. 1 Key events in the development of the monkeypox outbreak. (Luo Q and Han J, 2022)

• In 1958, a non-fatal pox-like disease outbreak was observed from Macaca fascicularis, and a virus with different characteristics from known Orthopoxvirus was isolated and cultured, named monkeypox virus (MPXV).
• In 1970, a 9-month-old boy with "smallpox" was diagnosed with MPXV infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the first confirmed case of human monkeypox in history.
• During the period from 1970-2002, monkeypox outbreaks occurred sporadically and locally in the African region.
• In 2003, the first outbreak of monkeypox occurred in a country outside of Africa—the United States.
• In 2022, the monkeypox outbreak emerges around the world.

The Status of Monkeypox Outbreaks in Endemic Countries

In recent years, countries in the central, northwestern, and southwestern regions of Africa have experienced outbreaks of monkeypox. In December 2021, monkeypox broke out in Cameroon, and in January 2022, it broke out in DRC and Nigeria. Currently, seven African endemic countries are involved.

The Status of Monkeypox Outbreaks in Non-Endemic Countries

Human monkeypox broke out in several countries in May 2022. More than 60,000 laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported in more than 100 countries worldwide, with 20 people dying as a result of the disease. Most of the cases in this outbreak were homosexual, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men. In addition, some cases had symptoms that were unusual for monkeypox presentations in the past.

Preparation for Monkeypox Outbreaks

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the unexpected outbreak and global spread of monkeypox have caused global concern. We should prepare for an outbreak of monkeypox.

• Basic Research

To better understand MPXV, basic research on all aspects of genomic studies, proteomic studies, etiology, epidemiology, and clinical manifestations will be conducted to advance the research progress of treatment and diagnosis.

• Diagnostic Testing

It is important that virus samples undergo early and accurate laboratory testing, including nucleic acid amplification tests, antibody detection, electron microscopy, virus isolation, and other diagnostic tests.

• Treatment and prevention

Accelerating the development of effective treatment and prevention measures is a top priority before the monkeypox epidemic becomes a pandemic epidemic.