- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
- Haiti reeling after 70 killed in gang attack
- Five Czech kids in hospital over TikTok 'piercing challenge'
- What happens next in Iran-Israel conflict?
- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
- Stubbs hits maiden century as South Africa make 343-4 against Ireland
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
- Ratcliffe refuses to guarantee Ten Hag's Man Utd future
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- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
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- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
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- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
- Japanese trainer Yahagi hopes Shin Emperor achieves 50-year-old Arc dream
- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
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- Top seed Sabalenka stunned by Muchova in Beijing last eight
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Studies to see if mutations behind monkeypox spread: WHO
Studies are under way to see whether genetic changes in the monkeypox virus are driving the rapid spread of the disease, the World Health Organization told AFP on Wednesday.
The two distinct clades, or variants, of the virus were called the Congo Basin (Central African) and West African clades, after the two regions where they are each endemic.
On Friday, the WHO renamed the groupings as Clade I and Clade II respectively, to avert the risk of geographic stigmatisation.
It also announced that Clade II had two sub-clades, IIa and IIb, with viruses within the latter identified as being behind the the current global outbreak.
On Wednesday, the UN health agency specified that Clades IIa and IIb are related and share a recent common ancestor -- therefore IIb is not an offshoot of IIa.
- Research into mutations -
Clade IIb contains viruses collected in the 1970s, and from 2017 onwards.
"Looking through the genome, indeed there are a few genetic differences between the viruses from the current outbreak and the older Clade IIb viruses," the WHO told AFP.
"However, nothing is known about the significance of these genetic changes, and research is ongoing to establish the effects (if any) of these mutations on transmission and disease severity.
"It is still early on in both the outbreak and laboratory studies to tell if the rise in infections could be driven by the observed genotypic changes in the virus, or are due to host (human) factors."
There is also no information yet on what the mutations mean in terms of how the virus interacts with the human immune response.
A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the endemic African countries.
The WHO declared the situation an international public health emergency on July 23.
More than 35,000 cases in 92 countries, and 12 deaths, have now been reported to the WHO.
Almost all new cases are being reported from Europe and the Americas.
Experts have been studying samples from cases.
"The diversity between the viruses responsible for the current outbreak is minimal, and there is no obvious genotypic differences between the viruses from the non-endemic countries," the WHO said.
- Renaming monkeypox could take months -
Meanwhile the WHO said its drive to rename monkeypox could take "a number of months".
The organisation has for weeks voiced concern about the name, with experts concerned that it is misleading.
Monkeypox received its name because the virus was originally identified in monkeys kept for research in Denmark in 1958.
However, the disease is found most frequently in rodents, and the current outbreak is being spread through human-to-human close contact.
The WHO has called for help from the public in coming up with a new name, with a dedicated website where anyone can make suggestions.
"We will update the public by the end of the year," the WHO said.
A.Santos--PC