Interim guidance for specimen management of Mpox

Abstract

Monkeypox (Mpox) is an infectious disease caused by the Monkeypox virus (MPXV), a double-stranded DNA virus that belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus of the Poxviridae family. Researchers first discovered the virus in 1958 when it caused outbreaks of a pox-like disease in monkeys kept for research in Denmark. Human disease was first identified in 1970 in a 9-month-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Orthopoxviruses can cause disease in humans and other mammals. Symptomatic infection typically results in the formation of lesions, skin nodules, or disseminated rash. Other orthopoxviruses (OPXVs) pathogenic to humans include Cowpox virus and Variola virus (causing smallpox).