Changing clinical features of the 2022 monkeypox global health emergency

Abstract A large number of monkeypox cases have been reported in many countries in 2022, and a Public Health Emergency of International Concern has been declared by the World Health Organisation. In this perspective, we review the structure, life cycle, and genetics of the monkeypox virus. We also discuss current treatment options and vaccination against monkeypox. In particular, we highlight the unique features of this unprecedented monkeypox outbreak, and present an analysis of the clinical symptoms recorded from infected individuals from the current outbreak, and compared these to those from previous outbreaks. We find that the clinical signs and symptoms appear to be milder and less remarkable. Importantly, the number of monkeypox lesions appear to be drastically reduced. It is possible that a less florid disease, together with the potential of asymptomatic spread, contributed to the extraordinary numbers of cases in this outbreak.