About this Study
In May 2022, a rapid worldwide increase in mpox cases prompted the World Health Organization to declare it a global health emergency. While cases in Canada sharply decreased in 2023, in early 2024, there was a significant increase in cases across Canada, often without a clear link to other cases, suggesting that there may be gaps in our knowledge.
One way we test for mpox is called serology, which looks at the presence of the mpox virus in blood serum. This normally requires a trained professional taking a tube of blood, but a new technique, Dried Blood Spot (DBS), has been shown to be a reasonable alternative, with simpler collection and storage. DBS requires a few drops of blood from a finger prick onto a card, can be dried at room temperature and then can be mailed directly to a lab. However, it is not yet known whether DBS is feasible for detecting mpox.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether DBS can be used to test for mpox by comparing DBS and blood serology. We plan to compare samples from individuals who have had mpox, individuals who have not had mpox, along with individuals who have been vaccinated and individuals who have not been vaccinated against mpox.
Funding
This project was funded by CIHR