A.2 lineage of Monkeypox mutating, says ICMR

Amid rising cases of the monkeypox, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found three sub-clusters of the viral infection detected in India. The first cluster, of Kerala(N5) and Delhi(N2) is aligned with the USA-2022 ON6740511, the second cluster, of Delhi(N3) is aligned with USA-2022 ON6754381. The final cluster consists of the US, UK and Thailand cases.
In a recent study, the ICMR conducted a complete genome sequence of monkeypox cases from Kerala and Delhi between the period of July to August 2022. The study found out that monkeypox virus sequences in the country, covering 90 to 99 per cent of the genome belonged to the A.2 Lineage of clade IIb.
For the study, clinical specimens, which are basically oropharyngeal swab and nasopharyngeal swab, of 96 suspected monkeypox cases from 18 states and 3 UTs were collected. These were then sent to ICMR-National Institute of Virology in Pune for analysis. Dr Pragya Yadav, Senior Scientist at ICMR-NIV, Pune said that they analysed “the complete genome sequences of monkeypox cases from Kerala (5 travelers from UAE) and Delhi (5 with no travel history), that India confirmed during July to August 2022.
All the retrieved MPXV sequences from India covering 90 to 99 per cent genome belong to A.2 lineage of clade IIb,” ANI reported.
The study has also mentioned that the A.2 monkeypox lineage is divided into sublineages. The A.2 MPXV lineage is divided into three sub-clusters.
So far, 13 cases of monkeypox have been reported in India– eight from Delhi and five from Kerala. Out of the total cases in Delhi, five of the patients have recovered. The country has reported one fatality in Kerala.