The WHO reports it’s too early to tell if the monkeypox outbreak could become a pandemic, but believe there is a window of opportunity to control the cases.
Monkeypox virus
According to the World Health Organization, there have been 257 confirmed cases of monkeypox around the world and another 120 suspected cases in 23 countries. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 12 cases. No fatalities have been reported with the outbreak.
The WHO reports it’s too early to tell if this outbreak could become a pandemic, but believe there is a window of opportunity to control the cases. But it emphasized that it is not the same as COVID-19, and the risk to the general public is low.
“We don’t want people to panic or be afraid and think that it’s like COVID or maybe worse,” said Dr. Sylvie Briand, M.D., the WHO’s director of epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention. “This monkeypox disease is not COVID-19, it is a different virus.”
Although uncommon in many parts of the world, in five African countries, WHO indicated reports of 1,365 cases and 69 deaths from December through May. No deaths have been reported in other countries, where the disease is rare.
Further, the WHO indicated that “the vast majority of reported cases so far have no established travel links to an endemic area and have presented through primary care or sexual health services. The identification of confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox with no direct travel links to an endemic area is atypical.”
Monkeypox is a virus transmitted from animals to humans, though humans can spread it to one another after initial infection. The symptoms are similar to those seen in smallpox patients, although typically less severe. The monkeypox virus. It is transmitted from person to person via close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated items such as bedding.
Usually, the disease goes away on its own. In the past, vaccination against smallpox was cross-protective against monkeypox. But since the eradication of smallpox, few people under the ages of 50 or 40 have been vaccinated.
Rosamund Lewis, WHO’s technical lead for monkeypox, when asked if the outbreak could escalate into a pandemic, said, “The answer is we don’t know, but we don’t think so. At the moment, we are not concerned about a global pandemic.”
The monkeypox virus in this outbreak has appeared more often in men who have sex with other men, although it is not defined as a sexually transmitted disease. As such, the CDC, the U.K.’s National Health Service and the WHO have described ways people can protect themselves against monkeypox, including practicing good hygiene and safe sex.
Although biotech companies do not appear to be broadly working to develop treatments for monkeypox, they are starting to ramp up testing. Roche and Abbott, both leaders in diagnostic testing, have announced intentions of offering monkeypox PCR tests, although currently those assays are only designed for research use.
The CDC indicated it is evaluating ways to get monkeypox-specific tests out to states. There are about 74 laboratories in 46 states that are part of the Laboratory Response Network “using an FDA-cleared test for orthopoxviruses,” stated Dr. Rochelle Walensky, M.D., director of the CDC. However, the tests aren’t required to initiate patient care.
In the U.S., where monkeypox is not endemic, a positive orthopox test would be a way to evaluate the spread of monkeypox.
“I think that more diagnostic tests closer to patients is better,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Commercial tests are even better. But the fact is, there are no other orthopoxviruses out there right now.”
One company taking a look at monkeypox, at least in terms of laying the groundwork for potential clinical research, is China’s Zelixir Biotech. Using its Alphafold2-Batch artificial intelligence technology platform, the company predicted more than 600 structures and added functional annotations of proteins from monkeypox virus proteomes. This early data collection could help experts develop drugs and vaccines against monkeypox if it becomes necessary.
“We hope our work can accelerate the development of monkeypox vaccines and drug discovery,” said Sheng Wang, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Zelixir. “We will keep updating and publishing our new research findings as our research progresses.”
