Biomedglobal Bites - Monkeypox (mpox) Virus Classification: How many types of mpox exist?

As of August 2024, when the pox was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the following is upto date information in the form of "Biomedglobal Bites"

Understanding the Scientific classification of Monkeypox virus is crucial to understand viral pathogenesis, transmission and its severity. In biomedglobal bites, you can learn things fast and quickly in the short time you have. Today in Biomedglobal Bites, we will discuss the Scientific classification of Monkeypox virus, a topic of utmost importance in our fight against infectious diseases. 

Similar to COVID-19, the World Health Organization has officially designated the disease caused by the Monkeypox virus as 'mpox '.

The name mpox and its further classificaiton emerged from The World Health Organization meetomg with several organizations involving virologists, the Center for Disease Control USA, the WHO advisory committee, and others. This committee grouped pox into two major clades. Furthermore, the committee also decided that the Roman numerals would represent this clade, like Clade I and Clade II. The mpox classification committee also found that in Clade II, there are two further subclades named Subclade IIa and Subclade IIb. Important to mention here is that Subclade IIb became more prominent in the year 2022 and was responsible for causing almost 100,000 infections. These infections were mainly among the Men who have sex with Men (MSM).

Of particular alarming concern is the emergence of Clade 1b in the year 2024 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the homeland of Clade 1 monkeypox. This clade spread into four African countries, namely Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and Kenya, which had never seen monkeypox infection before, significantly impacting these regions.

ADDITIOANL RESOURCES

1. Rattled by mpox surge in Africa, WHO declares a global health emergency - again

2. New nomenclature for mpox (monkeypox) and monkeypox virus clades