Lab Matters Summer 2025 | Page 11

FROM THE BENCH

By Rudolph Nowak, MPH, senior specialist, Marketing and Communications

San Francisco Public Health Laboratory’ s molecular team, from left, Lina Castro, Monica Jacinto, Annie Sheih and Dr. Godfred Masinde.

In 2022, the United States experienced an outbreak of Clade IIb mpox, with San Francisco being particularly affected. The San Francisco Public Health Laboratory( SFPHL) was receiving over 100 specimens per day— far more than surrounding counties.

At the time, SFPHL was unable to test specimens in-house and had to send samples to Laboratory Response Network for Biological Threats Preparedness( LRN-B) laboratories, which also faced testing limitations.“ It was juggling,” said Lina Castro, MPH, assistant laboratory director of SFPHL.“ Some specimens would go to the state laboratory, others to Sonoma and Santa Clara County public health laboratories. We’ d then have to compile the results and report everything to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention( CDC). It was very overwhelming.”

This process caused a major backlog. Seeing the delays, Godfred Masinde, PhD, laboratory director of SFPHL, decided

Mpox the laboratory needed to perform mpox testing internally to provide faster results.

“ We had to find a way to move forward,” Masinde said.

Innovation in Testing

In July 2022, CDC enabled commercial laboratories to implement an mpox assay

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