Mpox: Current knowledge and understanding - a scoping review.

Abstract

Mpox in humans is a rash illness resulting from infection with monkeypox virus (MPXV). In 2022, a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) was declared with 115 countries reporting cases of Mpox. Most of these countries had not previously reported cases. This global outbreak was sustained primarily by human-to-human transmission within complex sexual networks. While these cases were similar to previous clade II West African MPXV isolates, they were sufficiently genomically distinct to result in WHO recognising two subclades within clade II: clade IIa, and clade IIb. In 2024, a second PHEIC was declared resulting from a marked increase in cases of clade I MPXV. In this scoping review, we compare the major clinical, epidemiological and genomic features of the major mpox lineages and the implications for vaccination, transmission and infection control.