The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) announced that it has received a $925,000 grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to launch four projects to track mpox outbreaks in the United States. The Cause of RASHes in Emergency Department (CRASHED) project is expected to conduct mpox surveillance at 13 geographically diverse emergency departments in U.S. academic centers. “[The approach to this project] is to base … surveillance on any patient presenting with a compatible rash. Our concern is that mpox cases may have only been suspected among the previously identified high-risk group, [men who have sex with men], while infections in others … may have been missed,” emphasized David A. Talan, MD, Professor of Medicine and an attending emergency physician at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. In the new project, Dr. Talan is expected to continue directing the CDC-supported EMERGEncy ID NET to better understand emerging infections.
In addition to the CRASHED project, the CDC awarded funding to three other surveillance projects that will also be conducted through EMERGEncy ID Net. These projects will focus on:
- Studying past exposure to mpox of men who have sex with men in Los Angeles and Chicago
- Researching men who have sex with men who had previously reported engaging in exchange sex during the initial mpox outbreak and who may have contracted the disease and are currently seeking care at sexual health clinics
- Investigating the immunogenicity of mpox vaccine, JYNNEOS, among patients seeking care at AIDS Project Los Angeles clinics.