LAUSR

Description A disease anywhere can spread everywhere, if neglected Monkeypox (MPX) is a zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus (MPV), which is a double-stranded DNA virus belonging to the genus Orthopoxvirus, which includes variola virus, the cause of smallpox (1). The first human case of MPX was reported in a 9-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1970 (2), and MPX cases remained infrequent, until recently. Currently, MPX is endemic in the rainforest areas of West and Central Africa, where human MPX outbreaks often occur, especially in rural settings, owing to spillover events from animal reservoirs and occasionally from human-to-human transmission within households (3). On 6 May 2022, a new phase of MPX began when the first case of the disease, not associated with travel from Africa, was reported in the UK (4). There is now substantial human-to-human spread of MPX in nonendemic countries. What is the history of MPX and can this help inform control measures now?