尼日利亚疾病控制和预防中心Christian T. Happi研究组报道了基因组学揭示了西非人畜共患和持续的人痘传播。这一研究成果于2025年5月19日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《自然》上。

为了解决这些不确定性，课题组从2018年至2023年从尼日利亚和喀麦隆获得了118个MPXV基因组。他们的发现表明，与尼日利亚相反，喀麦隆的病例是重复人畜共患病的结果，两种不同的人畜共患病谱系在尼日利亚-喀麦隆边境传播。他们的研究结果表明，跨境森林生态系统中共享的动物种群推动了病毒的出现和传播。因此，该课题组人员在尼日利亚南部边境州确定了与尼日利亚人类流行病谱系（hMPXV-1）最接近的人畜共患外群。课题组研究人员估计，人畜共患外群和hMPXV-1的共同祖先于2013年底在尼日利亚南部的动物中传播。研究组估计hMPXV-1于2014年8月在南部河流州的人类中出现，并在未被发现的情况下传播了三年。河流州是病毒在人类流行病中传播的主要场所。他们的研究揭示了MPXV最近在人群中的建立，并强调了MPXV在喀麦隆和尼日利亚复杂的边境地区持续出现人畜共患疾病的风险。

研究人员表示，在2022年多国麻疹暴发的5年前，尼日利亚和喀麦隆报告了30多年来的首例病例。虽然尼日利亚的疫情被认为是一种持续的人类流行病，但喀麦隆疫情死灰复燃的驱动因素仍不清楚。人畜共患病的发病率在这两个国家仍不确定，基因组数据的空白模糊了人痘病毒（MPXV）出现的时间、人畜共患病和地理起源。

Title: Genomics reveals zoonotic and sustained human Mpox spread in West Africa

Author: Parker, Edyth, Omah, Ifeanyi F., Djuicy, Delia Doreen, Magee, Andrew, Tomkins-Tinch, Christopher H., Otieno, James Richard, Varilly, Patrick, Ayinla, Akeemat Opeyemi, Sijuwola, Ayotunde E., Ahmed, Muhammad I., Ope-ewe, Oludayo O., Ogunsanya, Olusola Akinola, Olono, Alhaji, Saibu, Femi Mudasiru, Eromon, Philomena, Moumbeket Yifomnjou, Mose Henri, Messanga Essengue, Loique Landry, Yonga, Martial Gides Wansi, Essima, Gael Dieudonn, Touoyem, Ibrahim Pascal, Mounchili, Landry Jules Mouliem, Eyangoh, Sara Irene, Etoundi, Alain Georges Mballa, Esso, Linda, Nguidjol, Ins Mandah Emah, Metomb, Steve Franck, Chebo, Cornelius, Agwe, Samuel Mbah, Mossi, Hans Makembe, Bilounga, Chanceline Ndongo, Akanbi, Olusola, Egwuenu, Abiodun, Ehiakhamen, Odianosen, Chukwu, Chimaobi, Suleiman, Kabiru, Akinpelu, Afolabi, Ahmad, Adama, Imam, Khadijah Isa, Ojedele, Richard, Oripenaye, Victor, Ikeata, Kenneth, Adelakun, Sophiyah, Olajumoke, Babatunde, OToole, ine, Zeller, Mark, Gangavarapu, Karthik, Park, Daniel J., Mboowa, Gerald, Tessema, Sofonias Kifle, Tebeje, Yenew Kebede, Folarin, Onikepe, Happi, Anise, Lemey, Philippe, Suchard, Marc A., Andersen, Kristian G., Sabeti, Pardis, Rambaut, Andrew, Ihekweazu, Chikwe, Jide, Idris, Adetifa, Ifedayo, Njouom, Richard, Happi, Christian T.

Issue&Volume: 2025-05-19

Abstract: Five years before the 2022 multi-country mpox outbreak, Nigeria and Cameroon reported their first cases in over three decades.1,2 While Nigeria's outbreak is recognized as an ongoing human epidemic, the drivers of Cameroon's resurgence remain unclear.3,4 The rate of zoonoses remains uncertain in both countries, and gaps in genomic data obscure the timing, zoonotic and geographic origin of mpox virus (MPXV) emergence in humans. To address these uncertainties, we generated 118 MPXV genomes from Nigeria and Cameroon from 2018-2023. Our findings show that, in contrast to Nigeria, cases in Cameroon are the result of repeated zoonoses, with two distinct zoonotic lineages circulating across the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Our findings suggest that shared animal populations in the cross-border forest ecosystems drive virus emergence and spread. Accordingly, we identify the closest zoonotic outgroup to the Nigerian human epidemic lineage (hMPXV-1) in a southern Nigerian border state. We estimate that the shared ancestor of the zoonotic outgroup and hMPXV-1 circulated in animals in southern Nigeria in late 2013. We estimate that hMPXV-1 emerged in humans in August 2014 in the southern Rivers State and circulated undetected for three years. Rivers State acted as the main source of viral spread across the human epidemic. Our study sheds light on MPXV's recent establishment in the human population and highlights the risk of persistent zoonotic emergence of MPXV in the complex border regions of Cameroon and Nigeria.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09128-2

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09128-2