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The purpose of this review is to give an up-to-date, thorough, and timely overview of monkeypox (Mpox), a severe infectious viral disease. Furthermore, this review provides an up-to-date treatment option for Mpox. The monkeypox virus (MPXV) has remained the most virulent poxvirus for humans since the elimination of smallpox approximately 41 years ago, with distribution mainly in central and west Africa. Mpox in humans is a zoonotically transferred disease that results in symptoms like those of smallpox. It had spread throughout west and central Africa when it was first diagnosed in the Republic of Congo in 1970. Mpox has become a major threat to global health security, necessitating a quick response by virologists, veterinarians, public health professionals, doctors, and researchers to create high-efficiency diagnostic tests, vaccinations, antivirals, and other infection control techniques. The emergence of epidemics outside of Africa emphasizes the disease's global significance. A better understanding of Mpox's dynamic epidemiology may be attained by increased surveillance and identification of cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is a double‐stranded DNA virus from the family Poxviridae, which is endemic in West and Central Africa. Various human outbreaks occurred in the 1980s, resulting from a cessation of smallpox vaccination. Recently, MPXV cases have reemerged in non‐endemic nations, and the 2022 outbreak has been declared a public health emergency. Treatment optionsare limited, and many countries lack the infrastructure to provide symptomatic treatments. The development of cost‐effective antivirals could ease severe health outcomes. G‐quadruplexes have been a target of interest in treating viral infections with different chemicals. In the present work, a genomic‐scale mapping of different MPXV isolates highlighted two conserved putative quadruplex‐forming sequences MPXV‐exclusive in 590 isolates. Subsequently, we assessed the G‐quadruplex formation using circular dichroism spectroscopy and solution small‐angle X‐ray scattering. Furthermore, biochemical assays indicated the ability of MPXV quadruplexes to be recognized by two specific G4‐binding partners—Thioflavin T and DHX36. Additionally, our work also suggests that a quadruplex binding small‐molecule with previously reported antiviral activity, TMPyP4, interacts with MPXV G‐quadruplexes with nanomolar affinity in the presence and absence of DHX36. Finally, cell biology experiments suggests that TMPyP4 treatment substantially reduced gene expression of MPXV proteins. In summary, our work provides insights into the G‐quadruplexes from the MPXV genome that can be further exploited to develop therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since April 2022, cases of simian orthopoxvirosis (commonly known as monkeypox) have been reported in more than hundred non-endemic countries. The causative agent, the Monkeypox virus (MPXV), is a virus of the family Poxviridae belonging to the genus Orthopoxvirus (OPXV). The sudden and unusual emergence of this virus mainly in Europe and in the United States has highlighted a previously neglected infectious disease. This virus has been endemic in Africa for at least several decades, since its discovery in 1958 in captive monkeys. MPXV, because of its proximity to the smallpox virus, is part of the list of Microorganisms and Toxins (MOT), which includes all human pathogens considered to be potentially misused for malicious purposes (biological weapons proliferation, bioterrorism) or susceptible to provoke laboratory accidents. As such, its use is subjected to strict regulations in level-3 biosafety laboratories, which de facto limits the possibilities of its study in France. The objective of this article is to review the current knowledge about OPXV in general, and then to focus on the virus responsible for the 2022 MPXV outbreak.

The genus Capripoxvirus in the subfamily Chordopoxvirinae, family Poxviridae, comprises sheeppox virus (SPPV), goatpox virus (GTPV) and lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), which cause the eponymous diseases across parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. These diseases cause significant economic losses and can have a devastating impact on the livelihoods and food security of small farm holders. So far, only live classically attenuated SPPV, GTPV and LSDV vaccines are commercially available and the history, safety and efficacy of many have not been well established. Here, we report 13 new capripoxvirus genome sequences, including the hairpin telomeres, from both pathogenic field isolates and vaccine strains. We have also updated the genome annotations to incorporate recent advances in our understanding of poxvirus biology. These new genomes and genes grouped phenetically with other previously sequenced capripoxvirus strains, and these new alignments collectively identified several recurring alterations in genes thought to modulate virulence and host range. In particular, some of the many large capripoxvirus ankyrin and kelch-like proteins are commonly mutated in vaccine strains, while the variola virus B22R-like gene homolog has also been disrupted in many vaccine isolates. Among these vaccine isolates, frameshift mutations are especially common and clearly present a risk of reversion to wild type in vaccines bearing these mutations. A consistent pattern of gene inactivation from LSDV to GTPV and then SPPV is also observed, much like the pattern of gene loss in orthopoxviruses, but, rather surprisingly, the overall genome size of ~150 kbp remains relatively constant. These data provide new insights into the evolution of capripoxviruses and the determinants of pathogenicity and host range. They will find application in the development of new vaccines with better safety, efficacy and trade profiles., (© 2019 Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada Transboundary and Emerging Diseases © 2019 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.)