Molecular methods for diagnosis of monkeypox: A mini-review

Background: Monkeypox is a global public health issue caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV), a virus belonging to the Orthopoxvirus genus. As of October 28 2022, a total of 77,115 laboratory-confirmed cases and 3,610 probable cases, including 36 deaths, were reported, with 9,070 cases reported in Brazil, the second most affected country. The need to develop national technologies for the rapid diagnosis of emerging diseases for mass testing of the population is evident, as observed in the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. With that in mind, this article provides an overview of current methods, techniques, and their applications in the molecular detection of monkeypox. Methods: The relevant documents or papers covered in this study were selected by a search in international bibliographic databases. The search terms used in the databases were aimed at summarizing existing knowledge on molecular diagnostic methods, such as: monkeypox; MPX, MPXV, qPCR, PCR, PCR-ELISA, and Diagnosis and Detection searched separately or together using the Boolean operator AND either in the title or abstract. The searches took place in September 2022, and the corresponding articles were selected between 2012 and 2022. Results: We found 256 documents in total and twelve studies addressing the molecular diagnosis of monkeypox were classified as possible sources for this review. Conclusion: This paper presents new perspectives and an overview of current methods, technologies, and applications in the molecular diagnosis of monkeypox. It is evident there is a pressing need to develop national technologies for the rapid diagnosis of emerging diseases for mass testing of the population. It is extremely important to have national detection kits with greater diagnostic capacity to assist in developing effective public policies in countries affected by this disease.