Patho-genesis, a subsidiary of BGI, has developed a rapid test kit for the monkeypox virus, BGI Group announced yesterday.
The test kit provides testing evidence for monkeypox virus infection and prevention. Under a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) mode, a laboratory technique used for rapidly amplifying copies of a specific DNA segment, test results are available within 40 minutes.
Relying on its own powerful databank covering 17,500 pathogens including the monkeypox virus, the BGI bio tool PMseq (pathogenic microorganism DNA/RNA high-throughput genetic sequencing), the test platform, along with the test kits, can precisely and effectively detect new pathogens.
Monkeypox is a zoonotic virus (transmitted from animals to humans) with symptoms similar to those smallpox patients in the past, although clinically less severe. With smallpox eradicated in 1980 and the vaccines subsequently stopped, monkeypox has emerged as public health’s most important orthopoxvirus.