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Mayo Clinic Laboratories can now test for monkeypox, a rare viral infection, using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) orthopoxvirus test kit. This announcement comes shortly after the Department of Health and Human Services’ news release naming Mayo Clinic Laboratories as a crucial resource to address monkeypox testing access in communities throughout the country.

“Our teams have worked collaboratively with the CDC to validate this test to provide patients with accurate and timely answers,” says William Morice II, M.D., Ph.D., president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories. “Access to testing is vital to combat infectious diseases to ensure patients are reducing the spread of the illness and receiving the treatments they need.”

Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology will perform this testing in Rochester. The department, which is experienced in testing for rare infectious diseases, will ramp up testing capacity as needed. Patients can access testing through health care professionals who use Mayo Clinic Laboratories as their reference laboratory. Mayo Clinic Laboratories has an integrated logistics system to bring specimens from health care professionals nationwide to Rochester for testing.

Those who have monkeypox symptoms should consult with their health care professional for additional testing, even if they do not believe they were exposed, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.