Molecular architecture of monkeypox mature virus

Abstract

The mpox outbreak since 2022 has caused over 106,310 lab-confirmed infected cases with 234 deaths across 123 countries/territories/areas and was declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organization in 2022 and again in 2024. The causative pathogen, monkeypox virus (MPXV), is a zoonotic double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) orthopoxvirus encoding 181 proteins 1 . Although smallpox vaccines based on vaccinia virus (VACV) could provide cross-protection against MPXV infection and have been used for current mpox prevention, no licensed specific vaccine or medicine against MPXV is available globally 2 .

Topics & Concepts