Arushi Bidhuri
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Written By: Arushi Bidhuri | Updated : June 25, 2022 4:31 PM IST
Monkeypox is spreading in some parts of the West and Central Africa over the past decades, but not it has been infecting people in non-epidemic countries. This has given rise to a global concern haunting scientists as they continue to figure out the changing behaviour of the virus. While there's always an existential threat of what could potentially happen in the long run, the sudden rise in these cases has concerned health authorities.
Earlier scientists had said monkeypox has been behaving differently than it used to, but more research is required to understand its behaviour. Now a new report, monkeypox may have more mutations than scientists had previously expected.
Researchers in Portugal speculated that given the increase in cases in the UK and US, the monkeypox virus may be evolving more rapidly than previously thought. Researchers in Portugal speculated that given the increase in cases in the UK and US, the monkeypox virus may be evolving more rapidly than previously thought.
According to scientists cited by Bloomberg, the most recent strain of monkeypox contains roughly 50 genetic differences from comparable viruses that were in circulation from 2018 2019.
According to a study published in Nature Medicine on Friday, they discovered the virus is still evolving throughout the current outbreak, including a number of minute alterations in the genetic coding, minor gene variations, and gene deletion.
World Health Network (WHN) has declared that the current monkeypox outbreak is now being classified as a pandemic after 3,417 confirmed cases of the disease were recorded in 58 different countries.
According to a statement, the disease is quickly spreading across several continents and won't end without a coordinated international response. Millions of people will die and many more will go blind or become crippled unless steps are made to stop the continuous spread of the disease, it warned, despite having death rates that are significantly lower than those of smallpox. According to the health organization, the main goal of declaring monkeypox a pandemic is to mobilise a global effort to stop widespread harm.
The WHN declaration comes before the WHO meeting, where the heath authority will decide how to classify the monkeypox outbreak.
