Ag test kit: monkeypox virus mutates rapidly!

Ag test kit: monkeypox virus mutates rapidly! Spread to 48 countries, multiple cases have emerged in Asia

The new crown epidemic is not over yet, and new infectious diseases have begun to spread in the world. What worries scientists the most seems to be happening.

In May this year, the United Kingdom reported a case of monkeypox in the country. The news may seem unremarkable, but subsequent developments have exceeded expectations. The disease had previously spread almost exclusively in Africa, and even when it came to other continents, it never spread. This time the situation is different. The monkeypox virus spreads rapidly in countries outside Africa. In less than two months, more than 3,500 infected people have been reported in more than 40 countries!

Recently, the virus, which was previously prevalent in Western countries, has entered Asia. On June 21, South Korea and Singapore each reported one case of monkeypox. On June 24, the first case of monkeypox was confirmed in Taiwan. The World Health Organization is so concerned about the virus that it is even considering whether to declare it an "international public health emergency." my country's National Health Commission also stated that it is required to improve the ability of medical institutions to diagnose and treat monkeypox, and take precautions.

The causative agent of monkeypox is monkeypox virus, which belongs to the chordopoxvirinae of the family poxviridae and the orthopoxvirus genus, and is a close relative of vaccinia virus and smallpox virus.

Although it is called monkeypox, in fact, this virus is mainly parasitic on rodents, so some experts have pointed out that it should be called rodentpox. For convenience, we will temporarily call it monkeypox.

The strains of monkeypox virus can be divided into two branches, the West African branch and the Congo Basin (Central Africa) branch. The mortality rate of these two branches is not the same, the mortality rate of the former is about 1%, the latter can reach 10%! Fortunately, according to current research, it should be the West African branch that is prevalent globally.

We know that what is even scarier than the epidemic of the virus itself is the mutation of the virus, because no one can guarantee the potential of the new variant. Probably most of these variants are harmless, but as long as there is one with super transmission or lethality, the problem will become extremely serious.

This is why some experts in the United States have pointed out that if the monkeypox epidemic is not controlled, it is very likely that a terrible variant will appear in the process of spreading, causing a global epidemic like the new crown.

Unlike the new coronavirus, the genetic material of monkeypox virus is not single-stranded RNA, but double-stranded DNA. The advantage of double-stranded genetic material is that the two strands pair with each other, and the probability of genetic mutation is much lower.

According to the scientists' speculation, the monkeypox strain should have accumulated relatively few mutations since 2018. However, according to a new paper in the journal Nature Medicine, the reality is far beyond scientists' imagination. The researchers analyzed 15 monkeypox virus samples and found that the actual mutation rate was 6 to 12 times higher than previously thought!

The researchers pointed out: Based on previous studies on similar viruses, scientists speculate that each site of monkeypox has only 1 to 2 mutations per year. However, compared with the strains circulating in Africa in 2018-2019, this year's monkeypox virus has shown nearly 50 mutations, far more than scientists imagined. What's even more frightening is that some of these mutations have made the virus relatively stronger!

Especially in 2018-2019, the mutation rate of the virus increased sharply, which is worth paying attention to.

We know that in 2017, there was a monkeypox outbreak in Nigeria that lasted until 2018. The outbreak didn't attract attention at the time because African countries have had monkeypox virus for decades, but the virus has barely leaked to other continents before. Some experts speculate that the outbreak in Nigeria may have allowed the monkeypox virus to spread and replicate in large numbers, giving it a chance to mutate.

There is also a possibility that these viruses have long been parasitized and spread on animals in countries other than Africa, but they have not spread to humans and have not been noticed. During this period, the monkeypox virus acquired a large number of mutations until it spread to humans.

It has even been speculated that the monkeypox virus has been circulating among humans at low levels, not enough to cause symptoms, but also battling the human immune system for a long time. Until finally a variant was able to escape the siege of the human immune system and began to spread widely.

Relevant research results have hinted at our possibility, because some mutations can provide scientists with clues.

For example, there is a class of antiviral enzymes, APOBEC3, which can induce errors when the virus replicates its genetic genes in the organism, so that it cannot complete the replication and control the infection of the virus to the human body. However, the researchers found that some monkeypox viruses have mutated genes that can escape the damage of this enzyme. This may be because the monkeypox virus has been latent in the human immune system for a long time. After the two sides continue to compete, the immune system is forced to mutate. Completed the process of natural screening.

We know that monkeypox can be transmitted in many ways. Through close skin contact with open skin lesions, body fluids, contaminated materials, or respiratory droplets coughed into the air, monkeypox virus can invade new organisms, although some of these pathways are relatively infrequent.

However, given the speed at which monkeypox viruses are currently spreading, researchers have to speculate that some changes have taken place in the way these viruses spread, and this change is likely to come from genetic mutations.

Although we say that the monkeypox virus is similar to smallpox, and the smallpox vaccine also has an immune effect on the monkeypox virus, the specific situation still needs to be tested. Humans cannot pin all their hopes on the smallpox vaccine, not to mention that this vaccine is available on a global scale. May be in short supply.

In addition, direct treatments for monkeypox have not yet been fully tested. It can be said that although the lethality caused by monkeypox is not astonishing at present, human beings dare not say that they will win, and they must be vigilant.