US Improving Testing And Surveillance For New Mpox Strain, Officials Say

Reuters (9/6, Steenhuysen) reported the US “has beefed up testing and surveillance for a new strain of mpox and has ensured that vaccines are readily available at local pharmacies and community health centers, senior administration officials said in a briefing on Friday.” So far, “no cases of the more transmissible strain of the virus have been confirmed in the United States, but experts are preparing for that possibility following a World Health Organization declaration last month of a global public health emergency.” During the briefing, “senior U.S. administration officials said any American” physician “can now order an mpox test, which can be processed through national laboratory chains.”