The monkeypox disease is a zoonotic-infectious disease that transmits between animals and humans. It is caused by a double-stranded DNA virus belonging to the Orthopoxvirus genus that is closely related to the variola virus –the causative agent of smallpox.
Year | Event | References |
---|---|---|
3500 years ago | Separation of MPXV within Old World Orthopoxviruses took place. | [18] |
600 years ago | MPXV West African subtype appeared | [18,19][18][19] |
1899 | Identification of MPXV in five species of African rope squirrel (Funisciurus sp.) collected across Central Africa. | [20] |
1958 | MPXV was first identified in Denmark following an outbreak of the pustular disease in a macaque colony (cynomolgus monkeys). The macaques had been imported from Singapore. | [7] |
1959–1964 | MPXV, which was reported among colonies of captive monkeys, were also described in the USA (1959 and 1962) and Rotterdam Zoo, the Netherlands (1964). | [21] |
1970 1972 |
The first human monkeypox case was identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, then Zaire). | [11] |
1970–1979 | A reported outbreak of human MPXV in Nigeria. | [1,22][1][22] |
1980 | Vaccination laid the basis for the eradication of Variola (genetically related to MPXV) | [23] |
1996–1997 | A major outbreak of human monkeypox occurred in Katako-Combe, Zaire (DRC). A total of 73% of cases reported contact with another human case while 27% had known contact with a wild animal. | [24] |
2003 | An outbreak of human monkeypox occurred in the USA (more than 71 infected people). It was initiated by rodents (small mammals) imported from Ghana to be sold as exotic pets and have been transmitted by pet prairie (Cynomys spp.). These infected mammals were kept near prairie dogs that were later sold as pets. | [25] |
2017 | The largest West-African monkeypox outbreak began in September 2017 in Nigeria following very heavy rainfall and flooding. Active surveillance confirmed human monkeypox, and as of September 2019, a total of 176 human-monkeypox cases had been confirmed from 18 states. | [15,26][15][26] |
2018 | Four individuals traveling from Nigeria to the United Kingdom (UK) (n = 2; travel from Nigeria, bush meat possible for one case—Secondary Exposure during healthcare), Israel (n = 1; rodent carcasses in Nigeria), and Singapore (n = 1; travel to Nigeria and attended a wedding and eat bushmeat) became the first human-monkeypox cases exported from Africa and a related nosocomial-transmission event in the UK became the first confirmed human-to-human monkeypox transmission event outside of Africa. This explains the role travelers play in the spread of infectious-disease epidemics in new regions globally. | [27,28,29][27][28][29] |
2019 | A further case of human monkeypox was confirmed in the UK, again imported from Nigeria. Contact tracing was initiated and the smallpox vaccine (Imvanex) was procured. In 2019, a Nigerian travelling to Singapore for a training course developed skin lesions shortly after arrival and was diagnosed with human monkeypox. | [24,27][24][27] |
2021 | Reported human-monkeypox cases in the UK. Another case was reported in a returning traveler from Nigeria to Maryland, and another case in Texas in the USA. |
[30] |
2022 | MPXV outbreak outside Africa starting from UK in early May 2022 MPXV outbreak in Africa in endemic and non-endemic African countries |
[31] |