Monkeypox virus spreading since 2017, had undergone 47 mutations since then, says study

Here’s a piece of bad news that neither you wish to hear nor we want to deliver: Monkeypox has been spreading since 2017. The recent outbreak of this disease has already afflicted 780 individuals in 27 countries, and more names are being added to that list as you read this. However, what has baffled scientists about this virus is why it has suddenly become a globe trotting threat after staying inert for decades. The answer to this question lies in the analysed of its DNA.

On conducting genome sequencing of the monkeypox virus it was corroborated that the virus causing the recent outbreak is closely associated with cases detected in Israel, Nigeria, Singapore and the UK between 2017 and 2019, in smaller numbers. Until now, it was believed that the monkeypox was endemic in the African region and this outbreak is the first instance that the virus has stepped out of the continent and started a grand world tour across new countries.

"We, therefore, suggest that the pattern we see... means that there has been sustained human to human transmission since at least 2017," wrote Aine O'Toole and team at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, in a report quoted by IANS.


Reportedly, there had been up to 47 DNA-letter changes in the latest viruses compared with these earlier cases. These changes are very rapid given that monkeypox virus had previously had the tendency to spread slowly.

Three of the 10 monkeypox viruses sequenced in the US also showed some differences, while still being related to the 2017 virus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

However, the good news is that researchers have found that the existing viruses are less fit than the 2017 ones, because they are going through mutations at a rapid rate and that is proving to be detrimental for them.