title: Human monkeypox: an emerging zoonosis.
abstract: Human monkeypox is a rare viral zoonosis endemic to central and western Africa that has recently emerged in the USA. Laboratory diagnosis is important because the virus can cause disease that is clinically indistinguishable from other pox-like illnesses, particularly smallpox and chickenpox. Although the natural animal reservoir of the monkeypox virus is unknown, rodents are the probable source of its introduction into the USA. A clear understanding of the virulence and transmissibility of human monkeypox has been limited by inconsistencies in epidemiological investigations. Monkeypox is the most important orthopoxvirus infection in human beings since the eradication of smallpox in the 1970s. There is currently no proven treatment for human monkeypox, and questions about its potential as an agent of bioterrorism persist.
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, and Center for Molecular Biology in Medicine, Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Di Giulio
authors.forename: Paul B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Eckburg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D023482:Bioterrorism; D002648:Child; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004197:Disease Reservoirs; D004285:Dogs; D005076:Exanthema / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D045908:Mpox, Monkeypox / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D008993:Monkeypox virus / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D012377:Rodentia; D012589:Sciuridae; D012900:Smallpox Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D012900:Smallpox Vaccine