Mpox lab testing

Mpox lab testing is available in Alberta and can be carried out on the same viral swabs for herpes simplex virus or varicella-zoster virus.

The World Health Organization declared the spread of the Mpox virus on the African continent a public health emergency of international concern. It has a higher mortality rate than previous strains identified in Canada.

Testing is recommended for individuals of all genders presenting with acute rash or ulcers with or without systemic symptoms — fever, headache, myalgia, arthralgia, back pain or lymphadenopathy — who in the last 21 days had one or more of these risk factors:

• Sexual contact with new, anonymous, or multiple partner(s)
• Sexual contact with a person(s) who had sexual contact with new, anonymous, or multiple partner(s)
• Significant contact with a person who had skin lesions such as macules, papules, pustules, vesicles, or ulcers with no known alternate cause
• Contact with a known or probable case of Mpox
• Visiting or recently returned from a country with high rates of Mpox virus circulation

Open the lab bulletin