Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Biomedical Science Concentration, School of Arts and Sciences, American University of Nigeria, 98 Lamido Zubairu Way, PMB 2250 Yola, Nigeria.
Molecular Inflammation Research Group, Institute of Medical Biology, University i Tromsø (UIT)-The Arctic University of Norway, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway.
Viruses. 2020 Nov 5;12(11):1257. doi: 10.3390/v12111257.
Monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by monkeypox virus (MPXV), which is a member of orthopoxvirus genus. The reemergence of MPXV in 2017 (at Bayelsa state) after 39 years of no reported case in Nigeria, and the export of travelers' monkeypox (MPX) from Nigeria to other parts of the world, in 2018 and 2019, respectively, have raised concern that MPXV may have emerged to occupy the ecological and immunological niche vacated by smallpox virus. This review X-rays the current state of knowledge pertaining the infection biology, epidemiology, and evolution of MPXV in Nigeria and worldwide, especially with regard to the human, cellular, and viral factors that modulate the virus transmission dynamics, infection, and its maintenance in nature. This paper also elucidates the role of recombination, gene loss and gene gain in MPXV evolution, chronicles the role of signaling in MPXV infection, and reviews the current therapeutic options available for the treatment and prevention of MPX. Additionally, genome-wide phylogenetic analysis was undertaken, and we show that MPXV isolates from recent 2017 outbreak in Nigeria were monophyletic with the isolate exported to Israel from Nigeria but do not share the most recent common ancestor with isolates obtained from earlier outbreaks, in 1971 and 1978, respectively. Finally, the review highlighted gaps in knowledge particularly the non-identification of a definitive reservoir host animal for MPXV and proposed future research endeavors to address the unresolved questions.
猴痘是一种由猴痘病毒（MPXV）引起的人畜共患病，该病毒属于正痘病毒属。2017 年（在巴耶尔萨州）时隔 39 年尼日利亚再次报告猴痘病例，以及 2018 年和 2019 年旅行者的猴痘（MPX）从尼日利亚出口到世界其他地区，这引起了人们的关注，即 MPXV 可能已经出现，以占据天花病毒留下的生态和免疫生态位。本文回顾了目前在尼日利亚和全球范围内与 MPXV 感染生物学、流行病学和进化有关的知识状况，特别是与调节病毒传播动力学、感染及其在自然界中维持的人类、细胞和病毒因素有关的知识状况。本文还阐明了重组、基因缺失和基因获得在 MPXV 进化中的作用，记录了信号在 MPXV 感染中的作用，并回顾了目前可用于治疗和预防 MPX 的治疗选择。此外，还进行了全基因组系统发育分析，结果表明，来自尼日利亚 2017 年最近暴发的 MPXV 分离株与从尼日利亚出口到以色列的分离株具有单系性，但与分别于 1971 年和 1978 年获得的早期暴发分离株没有最近的共同祖先。最后，本文重点介绍了知识空白，特别是未能确定 MPXV 的明确储存宿主动物，并提出了未来的研究工作，以解决未解决的问题。
