A REVIEW FOR MEDICAL AND DENTAL PROFESSIONALS CONCERNING THE NEW MONKEY POX WARNING

Abstract

MPXV, or monkeypox virus, is a member of the Poxviridae family and the Orthopoxvirus genus. Only two different species of wild animals—a rope squirrel in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a sooty mangabey in Ivory Coast—have had a virus isolated from them. Protection against monkeypox infection after receiving the smallpox vaccine was calculated to be around 85%. Since smallpox was finally eradicated in 1980, widespread vaccination campaigns have tapered down. That opened the door for monkeypox to be considered as a bioterror threat.