But while a monkeypox test already existed, it required lab workers to do each step by hand, Morice says. Federal guidelines say testing should be done only by swabbing the lesions of a person suspected to have the virus. These lesions look like pimples or blisters and can appear on the face, hands, feet, around the genitals or anus, or inside the mouth or rectum. Then the swabbed samples undergo a PCR—or polymerase chain reaction—test, which involves extracting genetic material and amplifying it to look for the presence of monkeypox virus’s DNA. When done manually, it means multiple steps of adding fluid, mixing reagents together and isolating the DNA.
That
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