Initial genomic sequencing suggests the virus hasn’t mutated to become more transmissible. So what explains its unprecedented rise across the world?
from a Portuguese patient also appears similar to the forms of the virus detected in 2018.
“Eradicating smallpox stands as one of the greatest public health accomplishments of all time,” he says. “But a natural consequence of eradicating the one orthopoxvirus that circulated widely among humans, and then stopping the vaccination program that led to eradication, is that generations of people have no immune experience with any orthopoxvirus. There is no question that this makes life easier for monkeypox. It’s like a big pile of fuel that has never seen a spark.
“I don’t like to speculate because I do not think it is helpful and may fuel misinformation,” says Boghuma Titanji, a researcher at Emory University who has studied past monkeypox outbreaks. “Sexual transmission is always a possible mode of spread for any pathogen which spreads by close physical contact.
Plus responses have been swift. The UK is already deploying ring vaccination strategies—vaccinating close contacts of those infected with monkeypox—while the UKHSA has issued a statement saying that those people should also self-isolate for 21 days and work from home. Last Friday, Belgium became the first country to introduce a mandatory 21-day quarantine for all monkeypox patients.
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