Monkeypox: An Emerging Public Health Threat

ABSTRACT

In last three decades, more than 30 new infectious agents have been detected worldwide and out of which more than 60% have been found to be zoonotic in origin. Monkeypox disease is an infectious zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus belonging to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family. Human monkeypox was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a 9month-old boy in a region where smallpox had been eliminated in 1968. First outbreak of human monkeypox outside Central and Western African region was detected in 2003 in United States of America which was linked to contact with the infected pet prairie dog. The latest Monkeypox outbreak in non-endemic countries started from May 2022 and have been reported from 89 member states across all six WHO regions. India reported first case of Monkeypox on 14 th July 2022.