With hospitals bracing themselves for more monkeypox cases, ASCs should also be prepared for the infectious disease to surge.
From vaccines to testing, ASCs should expect to play a role in curbing the public health emergency.
Eight things ASCs need to know about monkeypox:
1. Monkeypox appears to be less infectious than other viruses, including COVID-19 and smallpox, with the chance of spreading it to a fellow household member at around 0.6 percent. The chance of spreading COVID-19 to another member of a household is about 40 percent.
2. The case fatality rate has been between 3 percent and 6 percent, with symptoms lasting for two to four weeks for the infected.
3. The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. is over 10,000.
4. The FDA has approved the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine for high risk children under 18.
5. Diagnostic lab company Provista has entered two contracts to provide PCR monkeypox testing.
6. As of an Aug. 8 report, the CDC has the capacity to perform 80,000 tests per week, and currently conducts about 8,000.
7. The U.S. has seen five pediatric cases of the virus, and has the most cases of any nation.
8. The outbreak is currently most prevalent among men who have sex with men.