TY - JOUR T1 - Monkeypox DNA correlates with virus infectivity in clinical samples JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2022.08.02.502454 SP - 2022.08.02.502454 AU - Nir Paran AU - Yfat Yahalom-Ronen AU - Ohad Shifman AU - Shirley Lazar AU - Ronen Ben-Ami AU - Michal Yakubovsky AU - Itzchak Levy AU - Anat Wieder Feinsod AU - Sharon Amit AU - Michal Katzir AU - Noga Carmi Oren AU - Ariela Levcovich AU - Mirit Hershman-Sarafov AU - Alona Paz AU - Rebecca Thomas AU - Hadas Tamir AU - Lilach Cherry-Mimran AU - Noam Erez AU - Sharon Melamed AU - Moria Barlev-Gross AU - Shay Karmi AU - Boaz Politi AU - Hagit Achdout AU - Shay Weiss AU - Haim Levy AU - Ofir Schuster AU - Adi Beth-Din AU - Tomer Israely Y1 - 2022/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/08/03/2022.08.02.502454.abstract N2 - In light of the alarming global spread of Monkeypox and the lack of data regarding virus infectivity in clinical specimens, we examined virus infectivity and its correlation with PCR results, the currently available diagnostic tool. Due to the high risk of Monkeypox virus infection, only a limited number of approved BSL-3 laboratories employed with vaccinated staff, including ourselves, are capable of determining Monkeypox virus infectivity. We show strong correlation between viral DNA content and virus infectivity in clinical specimens. Moreover, we define a PCR threshold value which correspond to non-infectious virus, and suggest that our data can be translated into informed decision-making regarding risk assessment, protective measures and guidelines for Monkeypox patients.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -