Researchers have found a surge in the prevalence of mutations that can be attributed to a protein family in the human body called APOBEC
Since the world eradicated smallpox in 1980, scientists have known that the battle against poxviruses was far from over. Of the multiple types that exist, scientists have been wary of one in particular: mpox. In fact, one of the points in the World Health Assembly’s post-eradication policies was the “continuation of monkeypox surveillance in West and Central Africa, at least until 1985”.
In the 2022-2023, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the then global outbreak of mpox a ‘public health emergency of international concern’. In August this year, the WHO declared mpox to be a public health emergency for the second time in two years.
