Infokiri

Dear EVD-LabNet partners (in BCC)

Apologies if you have received this message multiple times. I has been sent earlier through the DURABLE network of which many of us are also partner.

We thought it would be useful to also share this within EVD-LabNet.

You may be aware of the recent finding on mpox CladeI in DRC bearing a large deletion with potential impact on PCR for clade discrimination.

https://virological.org/t/novel-clade-i-genome-sequences-from-the-ongoing-mpox-virus-outbreak-of-kamituga-in-south-kivu-province-democratic-republic-of-congo/956

Specifically, the CDC C3L PCR published by Li et al (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20643162/) is affected.

We are currently in the process of designing a PCR for detection of the cladeI DRC deletion variant that can be added to the CDC assay and we will share the protocol with partners.

In the meantime, we have prepared a short survey for inventory of the different PCR assays currently used for detection and clade discrimination.

The aggregated results will be shared.

We kindly ask you to complete the short survey in the link below before Friday, March 8^th.

Link to survey:          https://forms.gle/wQsHLzYusGCBxDSZ6

Thank you all for your contributions,

Best

Richard Molenkamp

Bas Oude-Munnink

Viroscience, ErasmusMC.