Monkeypox mutations making virus spread more rapidly and beat vaccines, experts warn

Monkeypox has infected over 77,000 people across 100 countries due to its ability to mutate and grow stronger, Mustafa Qadri writes.

Monkeypox virus (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A new mutation in the monkeypox virus is helping it spread and bypass vaccines, experts have warned.

Researchers from Missouri University identified a more infectious strain which they said could mean having to modify existing drugs and medicines or developing new ones that account for the current mutations to increase their effectiveness at reducing the severity of the symptoms.

Senior researcher of the study, Shrikesh Sachdev, said: “The virus is getting smarter, it is able to avoid being targeted by drugs or antibodies from our body’s immune response and continue to spread to more people.”