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We report a case of monkeypox in a man who returned from Nigeria to Israel in 2018. Virus was detected in pustule swabs by transmission electron microscopy and PCR and confirmed by immunofluorescence assay, tissue culture, and ELISA. The West Africa monkeypox outbreak calls for increased awareness by public health authorities worldwide.

Background The largest West African monkeypox outbreak began September 2017, in Nigeria. Four individuals traveling from Nigeria to the UK (2), Israel, and Singapore became the first human monkeypox cases exported from Africa, and a related nosocomial transmission event in the UK became the first confirmed human-to-human monkeypox transmission event outside of Africa. Methods Epidemiological and molecular data for exported and Nigerian cases were analyzed jointly to better understand the exportations in the temporal and geographic context of the outbreak. Results Isolates from all travelers and a Bayelsa case shared a most recent common ancestor and traveled to Bayelsa, Delta, or Rivers states. Genetic variation for this cluster was lower than would be expected from a random sampling of genomes from this outbreak, but data did not support direct links between travelers. Conclusions Monophyly of exportation cases and the Bayelsa sample, along with the intermediate levels of genetic variation suggest a small pool of related isolates is the likely source for the exported infections. This may be the result of the level of genetic variation present in monkeypox isolates circulating within the contiguous region of Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states, or another more restricted, yet unidentified source pool.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 imposes an urgent need for rapid development of an efficient and cost-effective vaccine, suitable for mass immunization. Here, we show the development of a replication competent recombinant VSV-∆G-spike vaccine, in which the glycoprotein of VSV is replaced by the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. In-vitro characterization of this vaccine indicates the expression and presentation of the spike protein on the viral membrane with antigenic similarity to SARS-CoV-2. A golden Syrian hamster in-vivo model for COVID-19 is implemented. We show that a single-dose vaccination results in a rapid and potent induction of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Importantly, vaccination protects hamsters against SARS-CoV-2 challenge, as demonstrated by the abrogation of body weight loss, and  alleviation of the extensive tissue damage and viral loads in lungs and nasal turbinates. Taken together, we suggest the recombinant VSV-∆G-spike as a safe, efficacious and protective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.

SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to understand its pathogenicity, antigenic potential and to develop diagnostic and therapeutic tools, it is essential to portray the full repertoire of its expressed proteins. The SARS-CoV-2 coding capacity map is currently based on computational predictions and relies on homology to other coronaviruses. Since coronaviruses differ in their protein array, especially in the variety of accessory proteins, it is crucial to characterize the specific collection of SARS-CoV-2 translated open reading frames (ORF)s in an unbiased and open-ended manner. Utilizing a suit of ribosome profiling techniques, we present a high-resolution map of the SARS-CoV-2 coding regions, allowing us to accurately quantify the expression of canonical viral ORFs and to identify 23 novel unannotated viral ORFs. These ORFs include several in-frame internal ORFs lying within existing ORFs, resulting in N-terminally truncated products, as well as internal out-of-frameORFs, which generate novel polypeptides. Finally, we detected a prominent initiation at a CUG codon located in the 5'UTR. Although this codon is shared by all SARS-CoV-2 transcripts, the initiation was specific to the genomic RNA, indicating that the genomic RNA harbors unique features that may affect ribosome engagement. Overall, our work reveals the full coding capacity of SARS-CoV-2 genome, providing a rich resource, which will form the basis of future functional studies and diagnostic efforts.