After over two years fighting COVID-19, we should have the the tools to contain monkeypox—but only if we learn from previous mistakes.
A medical laboratory technician holding a box of reactives to test suspected monkeypox samples at the microbiology laboratory of La Paz Hospital in Madrid, on June 6, 2022.onkeypox and COVID-19 are different in many ways. Though relatively rare, monkeypox has been around for decades; indeed, it has become endemic to parts of central and western Africa.
Nonetheless, there has been some deja vu as monkeypox cases tick upward, reaching 780 in 27 non-endemic countries as of the World Health Organization’stwo days ago. Once again, a virus unknown to most people is spreading across the globe. Once again, it is turning up in people without relevant travel history or known exposure to a sick person. And once again, some experts say, public-health authorities are missing chances to block its path.
Monkeypox testing in the U.S. currently runs through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , as was true of COVID-19 testing at the start of the pandemic. Joseph Osmundson, a clinical assistant professor of biology at New York University who co-authored a recent New York, says regulators need to start preparing now, while cases are low, to be ready in the event that changes.