Studies are underway to confirm whether genetic alterations in the monkeypox virus are causing the disease to spread rapidly, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. told to
His two distinct clades, or variants, of the virus were called the Congo Basin (Central Africa) and West African clades, after the two regions where each is endemic.
On Friday, the WHO renamed the groups Clade I and Clade II, respectively, to avoid geographic stigma.
He also announced that clade II has two subclades, IIa and IIb, and that the latter virus was identified as behind the current global outbreak.
On Wednesday, the United Nations Health Organization revealed that clades IIa and IIb are related and share a recent common ancestor, so IIb is not a derivative of IIa. .
Mutational studies
Clade IIb includes viruses collected since the 1970s and 2017.
WHO told AFP that "there are indeed some genetic differences between the current outbreak virus and the older clade IIb virus, when looking at the genome."
"However, nothing is known about the significance of these genetic alterations, and studies are needed to establish the effect, if any, of these mutations on transmission and disease severity."
” Outbreaks and experiments to determine whether the increase in infections was caused by changes in the observed viral genotype or due to host (human) factors. Both laboratory studies are still in the early stages.''
Also, no information is available. Still on what the mutations mean in terms of how the virus interacts with the human immune response.
WHO
More than 35,000 cases and 12 deaths have now been reported to WHO in 92 countries.
34} Nearly all new cases have been reported from Europe and the Americas.Experts have studied the samples.
"Diversity among the viruses responsible for the current epidemic is minimal, with no apparent genotypic differences among viruses in non-endemic countries," he said. Stated.
Renaming monkeypox can take months
On the other hand, the WHO states that renaming monkeypox will take “a few It could take “months,” he said.
The organization has expressed concern about the name for weeks, and experts fear it is misleading. The virus was first identified in monkeys kept for research in Denmark, hence the name. through close person-to-person contact.
WHO asked the public for help in coming up with new names, with a dedicated website for anyone to suggest.
"We will provide an update by the end of the year," the WHO said.
