Rapid rise in monkeypox spurs calls for better tests, more vaccine doses - Northeastern University College of Science

With U.S. monkeypox cases going from zero to more than 6,000 in less than three months, Northeastern University professors concerned about the pace of transmission are calling for better tests and more vaccine doses to stop the viral outbreak in its tracks.

“It’s very striking to see this pox” in the U.S., especially with cases declining in parts of the world where monkeypox has a historical presence, says Mansoor Amiji, who chairs the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Northeastern University.

Amiji calls the rise in cases in the U.S. and Europe “fairly rapid and steep.”

So far the U.S. government has secured 1.1 million doses of vaccine for monkeypox, according to Politico.

“That is still not enough. We have a lot of work to do,” says Neil Maniar, director of Northeastern University’s Master of Public Health Program.

Since May of this year, monkeypox cases have appeared more than 25,000 times in countries where the disease is not endemic, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency of concern July 23.