Rustbelt CFAR response to Monkeypox epidemic
August 12, 2022
Dear Colleagues,
As you have heard from the news reports Monkeypox is an increasing public health risk, especially in the HIV population. The Emory CFAR, and a number of other CFARs, and the ACTG are currently formulating plans to study the new epidemic. They have asked all the CFARs to share their plans in this area.
Jeff Jacobson, Sharon Riddler, Nic Sluis-Cremer and I met yesterday to discuss how the Rustbelt CFAR could stimulate studies on Monkeypox. The CFAR is in a position to help acquire specimens and support research in the broad area. Some topics of interest that occurred to us are:
- Impact of the virus on the community.
- Strain variation and mutation studies.
- Vaccine efficacy and correlates of protection.
- Emergence of drug resistance.
- Sources and management of pain associated with the lesions.
- Develop Monkeypox surveillance in Uganda.
This is not meant to be a complete list and we are now reaching out to you to see who might be interested in work in the area. As always, with these emerging epidemics, direct prior experience with Monkeypox is not needed. We are looking for people with allied expertise who are interested in the problem. We are also interested in identifying virologists and clinicians who are interested in Monkeypox but are not currently CFAR members.
Reading the tea leaves, we anticipate that if the current outbreak is not contained very soon, then supplements to the CFAR and RFAs from NIH will be issued over the next few months. We would like to be in a strong position to respond to these.
We are looking forward to receiving your input on this important issue! We are providing a brief survey to solicit your ideas and see if there is interest in a CFAR-wide webinar to discuss this important problem. Please visit: Rustbelt CFAR survey re: Monkeypox epidemic
Best wishes,