Several ongoing studies are trying to determine whether genetic changes in the monkeypox virus are driving the rapid spread of the disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) told AFP on Wednesday.

Two different branches or variants of the virus have been named the Congo Basin (Central Africa) and West African branches, based on the two regions where they are endemic.

But on Friday, WHO changed the names of the groups to sections 1 and 2, respectively, to avoid the risk of geostigma.

Also, II. explained that the guideline has two sub-guidelines, IIa and IIb, and that the viruses in this sub-guide are responsible for the current global epidemic.

On Wednesday, the UN health agency noted that parts IIa and IIb are related and have a recent common ancestor, so IIb is not a branch of IIa.

mutation studies

Clade IIb contains viruses collected in the 1970s and as of 2017.

“When you look at its genome, you see some genetic differences between viruses in the current epidemic and older clade IIb viruses,” the WHO told AFP.

“However, nothing is known about the relevance of these genetic changes, and research is ongoing to determine the effects of these mutations (if any) on disease transmission and severity,” he added.

Also, “it is still premature to know whether the increase in infections, both in the epidemic and in laboratory studies, is due to changes in the genotype of the virus observed in humans or to host factors”.

Outbreaks of monkeypox infections began to be reported in May, except in endemic countries in Africa.

WHO declared an international public health emergency on 23 July.

More than 35,000 cases and 12 deaths in 92 countries have been reported to WHO.

Almost all of the new cases have been reported in Europe and America, and experts have studied samples of these cases.

“Diversity among viruses responsible for the current outbreak is minimal, and there is no significant genotypic variation between viruses from non-endemic countries,” WHO said.

My new job

Meanwhile, the WHO said the plan to change the name to monkeypox would take “months”.

The business has expressed concerns about the name, which experts consider misleading.

The name monkeypox comes from the fact that the virus was first identified in monkeys used for research in Denmark in 1958.

However, the disease is most commonly found in rodents and the current epidemic is human-to-human transmission.

WHO has asked the public for help to identify a new name, with a web page where anyone can make suggestions.