New sub-lineages of monkeypox virus emerge

Subject: Science and Technology

Section: Biotechnology

Monkeypox was a neglected disease until early this year, with few reports on cases, and that too from travellers, though the disease was endemic in Central and Eastern Africa for many years.
The disease has predominantly affected males aged between 30-43 years, although demographics have been found to differ between regions. For instance, in West and Central Africa, a larger number of cases are reported among younger individuals.
A small proportion of pediatric cases of monkeypox have also been reported from the U.S. and with the increase in cases in the country, it is likely that more cases will be found in young children and other vulnerable groups.
Despite a slow decline in cases globally, monkeypox cases continue to rise rapidly in Latin America

Different Variants

Following the new nomenclature, the monkeypox virus variant formerly known as the CongoBasin or Central African clade will be denoted as Clade I.
While the former West African variant, which is the main circulating clade in the current outbreak, will be denoted as Clade II. Clade II of the monkeypox virus encompasses two subclades, denoted as Clade IIa and Clade IIb.
At least two distinct lineages of the virus are known to be circulating in the present outbreak. The European outbreak was largely contributed by the IIb.B.1 lineage of virus, but a distinct but smaller lineage (IIb.A.2) presently encompassing genomes from India, the U.K., the U.S. and Thailand was also identified.
The continued spread of the IIb.B.1 lineage which encompasses the majority of the genomes has resulted in many sub-lineages — over eight, including the recent one designated from Peru (B.1.6), the U.K. (B.1.7) and Germany(B.1.8).
The quantum of asymptomatic monkeypox transmission and the efficacy of vaccinia vaccine in preventing spread would be of immediate importance.