Abstract
Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is endemic within Africa where it sporadically is reported to cause outbreaks of human disease. In 2003, an outbreak of human MPXV occurred in the US after the importation of infected African rodents. Since the eradication of smallpox (caused by an orthopoxvirus (OPXV) related to MPXV) and cessation of routine smallpox vaccination (with the live OPXV vaccinia), there is an increasing population of people susceptible to OPXV diseases. Previous studies have shown that the prairie dog MPXV model is a functional animal model for the study of systemic human OPXV illness. Studies with this model have demonstrated that infected animals are able to transmit the virus to naive animals through multiple routes of exposure causing subsequent infection, but were not able to prove that infected animals could transmit the virus exclusively via the respiratory route. Herein we used the model system to evaluate the hypothesis that the Congo Basin clade of MPXV is more easily transmitted, via respiratory route, than the West African clade. Using a small number of test animals, we show that transmission of viruses from each of the MPXV clade was minimal via respiratory transmission. However, transmissibility of the Congo Basin clade was slightly greater than West African MXPV clade (16.7% and 0% respectively). Based on these findings, respiratory transmission appears to be less efficient than those of previous studies assessing contact as a mechanism of transmission within the prairie dog MPXV animal model.
Highlights
Monkeypox virus (MPXV) belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus (OPXV) of the family Poxviridae, and is related to variola virus
These findings are in contrast to a previous study we did with the prairie dog MPXV model to study transmissibility potential of the West African clade MXPV [14]
In the previous study, when naive animals were housed in cages across from MPXV infected animals similar in methods as the current study; 100% of the naive animals were infected with MPXV
Summary
Monkeypox virus (MPXV) belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus (OPXV) of the family Poxviridae, and is related to variola virus (the causative agent of smallpox). Naturally occurring smallpox has been eradicated, MPXV remains endemic to the rain forests of Central and Western Africa, with reports of sporadic human outbreaks and areas of endemic disease. Since the eradication of smallpox and subsequent cessation of routine smallpox vaccination, there is an increasing population of unvaccinated people that are fully susceptible to OPXV infection, including MPXV [1]. Human MPXV had only occurred within Africa. The virus caused an outbreak in the United States in 2003 due to importation of infected African rodents, which transmitted virus to pet black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), subsequently causing human disease [4,5]
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