Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.statnews.com/2022/06/03...x-outbreaks-underway-suggesting-wider-spread/
Genetic data indicate at least two separate monkeypox outbreaks underway, suggesting wider spread
By Helen Branswell June 3, 2022
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that new genetic sequencing data indicate there are at least two distinct monkeypox outbreaks underway outside Africa — a surprise finding that one official said suggests international spread is wider, and has been occurring for longer than has been previously realized.
Three of 10 viruses the CDC has sequenced from recent U.S. monkeypox cases — two from 2021 and eight from 2022 — are different from the viruses that have been sequenced by several countries involved in the large outbreak that is spreading in and from Europe. That outbreak is currently being driven by infections in gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.
While the three divergent viruses are clearly linked to one another and have a common ancestor, they also differ more from one another than do the other viruses, Inger Damon, director of CDC’s division of high-consequence pathogens and pathology, told STAT in an interview.
The people infected in these three cases contracted the virus over a surprising geographic range of places — one in Nigeria, one elsewhere in West Africa, and the third in either the Middle East or East Africa. This apparent wide dissemination of a related virus — one that differs from the European outbreak strain — suggests monkeypox outbreaks outside of the countries where the virus is considered endemic may have been smoldering for longer than has been appreciated, Damon acknowledged.
“I think that is one very plausible explanation,” she said...
Genetic data indicate at least two separate monkeypox outbreaks underway, suggesting wider spread
By Helen Branswell June 3, 2022
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that new genetic sequencing data indicate there are at least two distinct monkeypox outbreaks underway outside Africa — a surprise finding that one official said suggests international spread is wider, and has been occurring for longer than has been previously realized.
Three of 10 viruses the CDC has sequenced from recent U.S. monkeypox cases — two from 2021 and eight from 2022 — are different from the viruses that have been sequenced by several countries involved in the large outbreak that is spreading in and from Europe. That outbreak is currently being driven by infections in gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men.
While the three divergent viruses are clearly linked to one another and have a common ancestor, they also differ more from one another than do the other viruses, Inger Damon, director of CDC’s division of high-consequence pathogens and pathology, told STAT in an interview.
The people infected in these three cases contracted the virus over a surprising geographic range of places — one in Nigeria, one elsewhere in West Africa, and the third in either the Middle East or East Africa. This apparent wide dissemination of a related virus — one that differs from the European outbreak strain — suggests monkeypox outbreaks outside of the countries where the virus is considered endemic may have been smoldering for longer than has been appreciated, Damon acknowledged.
“I think that is one very plausible explanation,” she said...
