A l'UM la science [S04-ep08]: The Mpox epidemic
This week in A l'UM la science Martine Peeters of the Transvihmi laboratory and Eddy Lusamaki of INRB talk about the Mpox virus epidemic. In the second half of the program, we go to the Cemipai to talk about other viruses with Aymeric Neyret. A program broadcast every Wednesday at 6pm on Divergence FM 93.9.
In the summer of 2022, just as the world is emerging from two years of pandemics, a new threat emerges: Mpox, wrongly called monkeypox. A zoonotic virus related to the human smallpox disease declared eradicated in 1980. Previously confined to rural and forested areas of West and Central Africa, Mpox made its appearance in non-endemic zones in May 2022, where it was found for the first time on European soil. By July 2022, the WHO had already counted 75 non-endemic countries affected, and declared the virus a public health emergency of international concern(USPPI). This was the time when prevention posters were springing up in bar and nightclub toilets, describing the first symptoms of the disease, modes of transmission and recommendations in case of doubt. It was also a time when the disease acquired a sulphurous reputation reminiscent of another era: Mpox was thought to affect mainly men who had sex with men. If gay people are indeed over-represented among those diagnosed, as always, many factors will explain this bias in interpretation.
In contrast to Covid, the existence of a vaccine against Mpox - the same one that eradicated smallpox 40 years earlier - enabled the start of the epidemic to be brought under control in 2022. But in August 2024, the WHO issued a new alert and declared a public health emergency of international concern. All eyes turned to the DRC and several neighboring countries, affected by an upsurge in infections and the appearance of a possible new, more transmissible viral strain.
Since 2018, Martine Peeters from the Transvihmi laboratory and Eddy Lusamaki fromINRB have been scrutinizing the different strains of Mpox present in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of the AFROSCREEN1 and PANAFPOX2 projects, jointly run by the Institut National de Research Biomédicale (INRB) in the DRC, IRD and Inserm. Their results, published on Cell on October 24, 2024, provide important new information on the genetic diversity of Mpox circulating in the DRC, and on the predominant type of transmission.
To find out more :
In the second half of the program, we bring you a repeat of our report from Cemipai, the Centre d'étude en maladies infectieuses et pharmacologie anti-infectieuses, where we meet Aymeric Neyret, a research engineer at the University of Montpellier and an electron microscopy specialist. Safe behind his biological security post, he scrutinizes viruses to better identify the molecules likely to neutralize them and develop new treatments.
At UM la science you've got the program, here we go!
Coproduction: Divergence FM / Université de Montpellier
Animation: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview : Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting and editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Production : Tom Chevalier
Listen to the program "A l'UM la science" on Divergence FM 93.9
