Emerging Infectious Diseases (Apr 2024)

Link between Monkeypox Virus Genomes from Museum Specimens and 1965 Zoo Outbreak

  • Michelle Hämmerle,
  • Aigerim Rymbekova,
  • Pere Gelabert,
  • Susanna Sawyer,
  • Olivia Cheronet,
  • Paolo Bernardi,
  • Sébastien Calvignac-Spencer,
  • Martin Kuhlwilm,
  • Meriam Guellil,
  • Ron Pinhasi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid3004.231546
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 30, no. 4
pp. 816 – 818

Abstract

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We used pathogen genomics to test orangutan specimens from a museum in Bonn, Germany, to identify the origin of the animals and the circumstances of their death. We found monkeypox virus genomes in the samples and determined that they represent cases from a 1965 outbreak at Rotterdam Zoo in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

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