Sparrow Health System now doing in-house testing for monkeypox at its Lansing lab
Sparrow Health System is testing for the monkeypox virus through its own in-house system that started Thursday, the same day U.S. health officials declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency.
Two patients had been tested by noon Friday, with the main lab in Lansing having the capability of testing up to 200 patients per day, said Dr. Paul Entler, the health system’s chief clinical officer.
He said the turnaround time for results is less than 24 hours, giving patients an answer and treatment and therapy options earlier than before.
Getting a monkeypox test result as soon as possible
As with the coronavirus pandemic, patient prevention and further progression of the virus is key, Entler said.
He said that Sparrow was previously leveraging the state lab, which may have been leveraging the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a process that would take more than one day.
“We’re able to do all the steps now within our own lab,” he said. “It’s really nice to be able to do this because I think the key of anything is the availability to get feedback as soon as possible for source control.”
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He said the growth of the outbreak in Michigan and nationally is concerning. The CDC said more than 7,500 cases were recorded in the U.S. as of Friday, with more than 28,000 cases worldwide in 88 countries.
Michigan had 71 cases of monkeypox Thursday, nearly twice as many as the week before, according to the state health department.
Of those cases, 19 were in the city of Detroit; 13 in Oakland County; 10 in Macomb County, nine in Wayne County outside the city of Detroit; seven in Kent County, four in Ingham County, three in Washtenaw County, two in Ottawa County and one each in Ionia, St. Clair, Livingston and Montcalm counties.
Entler said the lab is testing for all the orthopoxvirus. If a test is positive, a more specific test is run for monkeypox.
He said the lab is typing for the West African strain or the Congo Basin strain. Infections in the current outbreak are from the West African type, the CDC said on its website.
Entler said the effort of the health system to conduct its own testing began a little over a month ago. The first probable monkeypox case was reported at the end of June in Oakland County.
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While the health system said it is testing its patients, Entler said he expects that some patients will come from outside the area to get tested. He said samples can be taken at any of the Lansing-based health system’s labs, emergency rooms or urgent care locations in mid-Michigan.
Entler recommends that anyone who has symptoms or has been exposed in a high-risk area to talk with their physician.
Symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, respiratory symptoms and rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appear on the face, inside the mouth and on other parts of the body, such as the hands, feet, genitals or anus, according to the CDC.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sparrow Health System testing for monkeypox; offers fast result
