How big is the monkeypox genome compared to the corona genome?
What are the latest hypotheses for the spread of the virus?
What does it mean to detect two different strains of monkeypox in the United States?
Two different strains of monkeypox detected in America
New sequencing data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revealed the prevalence of at least two genetically different types of monkeypox in the United States, according to a report in "NBC".
The news was also reported by other media sources.
Although the centers have not sequenced all 22 confirmed US cases so far, two of them were found to be genetically similar to an infection that infected a Texas man who traveled to Nigeria in 2021, and both cases of two people who recently traveled to Africa: a woman from Virginia and a man from Florida .
The rest of the US serial cases are similar to the genetic codes of cases in Europe and a 2021 infection in a Maryland resident who traveled to Nigeria.
"Although they are similar to each other, their genetic analysis shows that they are not related to each other," Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the centers' division of pathogenesis and pathology, said about these two variables - at a press conference on Friday.
Two outbreaks of monkeypox
McQuston and other disease experts added that this new information indicates that cases in the United States are caused by "two outbreaks" rather than one, complicating our understanding of their origins.
“It is possible that over the past two years, there have been at least two different cases, where monkeypox virus was transmitted to people in Nigeria from the animal that keeps it, and it is possible that this virus spread through close person-to-person contact .. it may be contact intimate or sexual.
This possibility, in turn, raises questions about how long monkeypox has been spreading outside Africa and the extent of transmission of the virus.
"This is like a new TV series and we don't know what episode we're in," said Anne Rimoen, an epidemiology professor at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. "We're now just starting to get some of the origin story."
Nearly 900 cases of monkeypox have been reported outside Africa since early May, according to Global Health, a group that collects infectious disease data.
Prior to this, the largest outbreak in the Western Hemisphere was 47 cases in the United States in 2003. These people were infected by domestic prairie dogs, and no human-to-human transmission has been documented.
4 hypotheses about monkeypox
Experts are reviewing various possible explanations for the rapid growth of the current outbreaks, and there are 4 possibilities:
The course of events gave the virus an opportunity to spread.
Monkeypox has evolved to be better at transmitting from human to human.
The virus may have been spreading undetected for some time.
Increased pressure on ecosystems may be responsible for the spread of monkeypox infection among humans.
The fourth possibility was mentioned by the expert at the World Health Organization, Mike Ryan - last Wednesday - and Ryan said in Geneva, "We are dealing with a large instability at a common point between animals and humans."
There are other diseases that originate in animals and are more common in humans, such as Lassa fever and Ebola virus.
As for the third possibility, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, suggested that it is likely.
On the idea that the virus has become more transmissible, Andrew Reed, a professor at Penn State University who studies the development of infectious diseases, pointed to the fact that monkeypox appears to spread between close contacts more efficiently than scientists have observed in the past.
How big is the monkeypox genome compared to the corona genome?
Monkeypox is a DNA virus that does not mutate as quickly as RNA viruses like the Corona virus, but Reed pointed out that DNA viruses have long genomes: the genome of monkeypox is 7 times larger than that of the Corona virus.
"The fact that he has so many genes to play with means all kinds of things can happen," he said.
Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, said it was worth checking whether one variant spreads more easily than another.
77 cases of monkeypox in Canada and the situation in Quebec is worrying
Canada had counted - as of Friday - 77 confirmed cases of monkeypox, almost the majority of which were detected in Quebec, where the authorities considered the situation "alarming."
Canada reported its first two cases on May 20 in the French-speaking province.
Dr. Howard Ngo, an official with the Federal Public Health Agency, said during a press conference that the situation was "alarming".
He pointed out that the authorities feared, in particular, "the emergence of cases" that would spread among "families and affect pregnant women or young children."
He also stated that this diffusion is not limited to "a specific group or environment";
Thus it can affect "anyone regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation".
The province has received smallpox vaccines that can be effective in protecting contacts with monkeypox patients.
There is no treatment or vaccine currently available to combat this virus, but the smallpox vaccination has proven highly effective in preventing monkeypox.
France reports 51 cases of monkeypox
Yesterday, Friday, the French health authorities announced the discovery of 51 cases of monkeypox, amid an increase in the number of confirmed cases around the world.
Paris reported the first injuries last May, and the total number of confirmed cases last Wednesday was 33.
The French Public Health Authority said that all injuries were recorded in men between the ages of 22 and 63, and that only one person was admitted to the hospital and subsequently discharged from it.
Health officials: It's too early to say monkeypox will turn into an epidemic in America
US health officials urged doctors - on Friday - to conduct tests for monkeypox if suspected, saying that there may be a community-wide spread, but it is too early to say if the disease will turn into a pandemic, adding that the risks to public health remain. low.
Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters on a conference call that 21 cases of the disease have been recorded so far in at least 11 states, with patients isolated to help prevent infection.