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Published September 26, 2024
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02070-1
Liang Wanga ∙ George F Gaob
On Aug 14, 2024, WHO re-declared mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) making it the second infectious disease that has caused two independent PHEICs in the 21st century, the first being Ebola. Monkeypox virus could be traditionally divided into three major clades based on their genetic diversity, namely clades I, IIa, and IIb.1 A newly emerged clade of monkeypox virus, clade Ib, was considered to initiate this PHEIC2 (not clade IIb, the causative agent responsible for the last PHEIC between 2022 and 2023).3Although most confirmed and suspected cases to date have been in Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, imported cases have been detected in Sweden and Thailand;4 hence, mpox might re-spread globally. Since monkeypox virus clade I is typically associated with more severe clinical symptoms and a higher case fatality rate (10·6%) than clade II,5 it also poses a higher risk to public health than the clade IIb virus. In response to the current PHEIC, rapid viral genomic sequencing in conjunction with the timely sharing of data—including but not limited to viral genome sequences and corresponding epidemiological and clinical data—are vital for assessing the epidemic trends in real time and will undoubtedly benefit the development of vaccines and the formulation of effective prevention and control policies.6 Hence, understanding how well mpox-related data are currently shared from Africa is vitally important, and can be simply assessed by the availability and timeliness of publicly available monkeypox virus genome data from the region. By comparison with the last mpox PHEIC, we aimed to determine areas of genomic surveillance and data sharing where improvement is needed, to facilitate timely policy optimisation in the future to better respond to the current, and any future, PHEICs. ...
DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02070-1
Liang Wanga ∙ George F Gaob
On Aug 14, 2024, WHO re-declared mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) making it the second infectious disease that has caused two independent PHEICs in the 21st century, the first being Ebola. Monkeypox virus could be traditionally divided into three major clades based on their genetic diversity, namely clades I, IIa, and IIb.1 A newly emerged clade of monkeypox virus, clade Ib, was considered to initiate this PHEIC2 (not clade IIb, the causative agent responsible for the last PHEIC between 2022 and 2023).3Although most confirmed and suspected cases to date have been in Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, imported cases have been detected in Sweden and Thailand;4 hence, mpox might re-spread globally. Since monkeypox virus clade I is typically associated with more severe clinical symptoms and a higher case fatality rate (10·6%) than clade II,5 it also poses a higher risk to public health than the clade IIb virus. In response to the current PHEIC, rapid viral genomic sequencing in conjunction with the timely sharing of data—including but not limited to viral genome sequences and corresponding epidemiological and clinical data—are vital for assessing the epidemic trends in real time and will undoubtedly benefit the development of vaccines and the formulation of effective prevention and control policies.6 Hence, understanding how well mpox-related data are currently shared from Africa is vitally important, and can be simply assessed by the availability and timeliness of publicly available monkeypox virus genome data from the region. By comparison with the last mpox PHEIC, we aimed to determine areas of genomic surveillance and data sharing where improvement is needed, to facilitate timely policy optimisation in the future to better respond to the current, and any future, PHEICs. ...
