WHO approves first mpox test for faster diagnoses
Al Jazeera
The ‘real time PCR test’ will enable the detection of the virus by swabbing human skin lesions.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the use of the first diagnostic test for mpox that will provide immediate results. This will increase testing capabilities in countries facing outbreaks, it says.
The WHO announced on Friday that it had approved the “real-time PCR test”, Alinity m MPXV assay, which enables the detection of the virus by testing swabs of skin lesions.
Currently, patients have to wait days for results. This test will help health workers confirm suspected cases more “efficiently”, the WHO said.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the current outbreak, only 37 percent of suspected cases have been tested this year, the United Nations health agency noted.
This test’s approval “will be pivotal in expanding diagnostic capacity in countries facing mpox outbreaks, where the need for quick and accurate testing has risen sharply,” it added in a statement.
UN health agency says its decision is ‘based on the rising number and continuing geographic spread of cases.’
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