Summary: | Insights into the Monkeypox (MPX) disease, causative virus, its transmission including possible reservoir(s) is scattered. The recent outbreak of MPX disease as we begin to see a high number of cases emerging from non-endemic countries is a wake-up call for the research community. This review presents an update on the re-emergence of the MPX disease as it spreads across the globe like never before. Unlike most single-stranded RNA viruses, such as SARS-COV 2, this zoonotic disease (MPX) is caused by a double-stranded DNA virus, the Monkeypox virus. Thus, the replication machinery of the MPX virus genome is highly conserved without undergoing many changes (mutations), which usually present challenges in vaccine development. To review recent studies and reports on MPX disease, a comprehensive scientific literature search in relation to terms such as MPX disease, MPX virus, and transmission routes of MPX virus was conducted. Suspected MPX virus reservoirs, animal-to-human and three main person-to-person modes of transmission were noted to have been reported. Finally, diagnostic methods of MPX virus and treatment or prevention measures of the disease as indicated by the WHO and CDC were also reviewed.
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