Pox virus articles from across Nature Portfolio

In this Review, Abergel et al. overview infection cycles across the Nucleocytoviricota phylum, highlighting shared mechanisms and lineage-specific features spanning viral entry, viral factory formation, genome replication, virion morphogenesis and egress, and discuss key unresolved questions in the field.

Mpox diagnosis typically depends on lesion swabs, which are impractical in certain settings. Here, the authors demonstrate that saliva can serve as a noninvasive alternative, while anorectal swabs are highly sensitive in mucosal exposure contexts, enhancing diagnostic strategies during outbreaks.

A phylogenetic analysis examined the origins of the first mpox outbreak in Sierra Leone and found evidence of an emerging lineage (G.1) that has likely descended from the Nigerian epidemic and emerged in Sierra Leone months before first detection.

Mpox persists in North America without extinction, raising concerns of future outbreaks. Authors combined phylodynamics and microsimulation to show how viral introductions and rebounding sexual behaviors promote mpox persistence in Los Angeles.

In this Review, Ogoina et al. examine the emergence of mpox and its epidemiology, the viral life cycle, transmission dynamics, risk factors and clinical characteristics. They also explore current and future prevention and control strategies, including the therapeutic and vaccine landscape, as well as the urgent need for integrated surveillance, equitable access to countermeasures, and Africa-led research to address the ongoing multi-clade threat.

Whole-genome phylogenetic analyses have identified a case of monkeypox virus clade IIb lineage in the Republic of the Congo and co-circulation of three clade lineages, emphasizing the importance of improved surveillance given the risk of possible recombination events in the future.

We propose a new nomenclature for mpox virus lineages with sustained human-to-human transmission to improve tracking, communication and public health response.

The human interaction with mpox has changed across its entire endemic range, revealing the endemic and pandemic risk of monkeypox virus and the current knowledge gaps on its biology that hamper virus control.

An increasing number of countries in Africa are reporting cases of mpox, prompting the World Health Organization to declare it a public health emergency of international concern.

A new study identified two distinct lineages of monkeypox virus (MPXV) in the United States with evidence of genome editing by host apolipoprotein B editing complex (APOBEC3) cytosine deaminase, which might be accelerating MPXV evolution.

A recent study investigated viral loads in clinical samples with the aim of understanding the distribution of monkeypox virus in the human body and how this distribution may be influencing viral transmission

The ongoing monkeypox outbreak in non-endemic countries is likely to be a consequence of the failure to curtail the spread of the disease in endemic regions of Africa despite decades of constant outbreaks. A globally driven one health approach to prevention and treatment of the disease is essential to control present and future outbreaks.