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About the Authors:
Yoshinori Nakazawa
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliations Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States of America
R. Ryan Lash
Affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Darin S. Carroll
Affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Inger K. Damon
Affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Kevin L. Karem
Affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Mary G. Reynolds
Affiliation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
Jorge E. Osorio
Affiliation: Department of Pathological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
Tonie E. Rocke
Affiliation: USGS National Wildlife Health Center, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America
Jean M. Malekani
Affiliation: University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Jean-Jacques Muyembe
Affiliation: Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Pierre Formenty
Affiliation: Department of Communicable Diseases Surveillance and Response, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
A. Townsend Peterson
Affiliation: Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
Introduction
Monkeypox virus (MPXV) was first isolated from captive cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) in Denmark in 1959 [1]; in subsequent years, additional monkeypox (MPX) cases were reported in captive non-human primates from research facilities and zoos [2]. In 1970, the first human MPX case was described from Basankusu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) [3]. In humans, the symptoms and progress of this disease are very similar to those presented by smallpox, albeit with lower fatality rates. MPXV belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus, and as such shares cross-immunological protection with other members of the genus, including vaccinia virus, the agent used in the smallpox vaccine. Since worldwide eradication of smallpox, routine smallpox vaccination programs were terminated, increasing over time the portion of the human population potentially at risk for MPXV infection. As a result, monkeypox has recently been identified as an important emerging disease, raising public health concerns [4], [5], [6].
Increased numbers of human MPX cases reported in recent years compared to those reported at the close of the...