So far, around 8,850 tests have been carried out in reference laboratories throughout Brazil, to prove cases of monkeypox, informed today (16) to Brazil Agency the Ministry of Health. The number of tests performed daily varies according to notifications and the arrival of samples at the laboratories. The country accumulates 3,100 cases of the disease, spread across 27 states, according to data released on Tuesday night by the Ministry of Health.
Currently, eight reference units perform the diagnosis, four of which are central Public Health Laboratories (Lacen), located in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul and the Federal District, and four more national reference units, two of them in the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) in Rio de Janeiro and Amazonas; one from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ); and one at Instituto Evandro Chagas, in the state of Pará. In this way, the ministry assured that “it is possible to guarantee the coverage of the diagnosis throughout the country”.
The Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, informed in an interview with the program The Voice of Brazillast Friday (12), that all central public health laboratories will be able to take the test RT-PCR for monkeypox by the end of August.
Expansion
The coordinator of the Molecular Virology Laboratory at (UFRJ), Amilcar Tanure, defended today, in an interview with Brazil Agency, that more tests are carried out and that the number of laboratories able to carry out the testing is increased. “I think this has to be increased, so that patients have more access. In addition, as the virus is causing less exuberant lesions, the recommendation is that people who suspect that it is monkeypox seek medical attention, an emergency care unit, and go get tested”.
Tanure said that it is the intention of the State Health Department of Rio de Janeiro to create two locations to centralize these patients for sample collection. One of the testing centers would work in Maracanã, in the capital, and another in Nova Iguaçu, in Baixada Fluminense. “It is very important to expand testing and collection sites and train healthcare professionals to do a correct collection for the test to work well. The more we test, the more we will be able to isolate infected people and block the transmission of the virus”.
The secretariat confirmed that in the coming weeks it will open a post to collect material for testing suspected cases of monkeypox. The service will be performed only for patients referred by health units, after clinical examination. The samples will be sent for analysis at the Enterovirus Laboratory of Instituto Oswaldo Cruz and at the Laboratories of Molecular Biology of Viruses and Molecular Virology of UFRJ, which are referenced by the Ministry of Health in the state of Rio de Janeiro. It was not informed, however, where the material collection site will be.
Fundão
Amilcar Tanure added that the university is also trying to scale up testing. “We are trying to open a place like this in Fundão, in the same place where we already care for patients with covid-19”, he mentioned. Possibly, it will be located in the same building where the Center for Coping and Studies in Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases of the UFRJ, linked to the Faculty of Medicine, works. The nucleus provides patient care and clinical follow-up to see when the lesions improve and decrease.
The UFRJ Molecular Virology Laboratory has carried out 1,300 monkeypox tests so far, using samples received from the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. The positivity rate of 40% was considered high by the researcher. The laboratory does the molecular test to identify the virus that is on people’s skin. To date, 368 cases have been confirmed in the state, according to the Health Department.
Article updated at 10:52 pm to include updated data on monkeypox cases and the number of states where the disease has been recorded.
