Monkeypox Virus Infection: A Re-emerging and neglected zoonoses

The world community has not entirely recovered from the troubles caused by the novel COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of a disease in several countries has started to concern the globe again. The disease is Monkeypox (MP), caused by a zoonotic orthopox DNA virus, which is related to virus that causes smallpox. The name Monkeypox was given as the virus was first detected in the year 1958 in monkeys kept for scientific research. In humans, MP infection was first described in the year 1970 in Democratic Republic of Congo. Since then, several sporadic outbreaks of MP infection have been reported in Africa because of contact with a wild reservoir of infection, mainly rodents. The MP virus has been circulating for decades in endemic regions of Africa, but scientific knowledge in this field is still lacking. In Africa, the MP outbreaks have been reported to occur for years but the disease was neglected and no combat measures were put into place. In recent times, the diversion of the diagnostic facilities, treatment protocols and public health surveillance towards COVID-19 might have paved a way for the MP infection to enter in human settings profoundly. The scientific fraternity still does not know precisely about the animals harboring MP virus in natural settings; however, the virus does circulate among rodents and is zoonotic in nature.