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The Biden administration announced Wednesday it is authorizing commercial laboratories to conduct monkeypox tests in an attempt to dramatically expand testing as the United States confronts a record outbreak that experts fear is far larger than the official count of 156 cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started shipping test kits to five commercial laboratory companies this week, allowing health providers to order tests from the labs directly by early July. The companies include Quest Diagnostics, Sonic Healthcare, Labcorp, Mayo Clinic Laboratories and Aegis Sciences. (Nirappil, Sun and Diamond, 6/22)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending tests to labs, including Aegis Science, Labcorp, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics and Sonic Healthcare, which it said would significant expand the nation’s health system’s capacity to test for monkeypox. Previously, testing has largely been confined to public health labs, which combined have a capacity of about 8,000 tests per week. “All Americans should be concerned about monkeypox cases,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement. (Miller, 6/22)

The World Health Organization will decide on Thursday whether to declare monkeypox a global health emergency, stirring criticism from leading African scientists who say it has been a crisis in their region for years. (Rigby, 6/23)

World Health Organization (WHO) experts meet on Thursday to evaluate whether monkeypox constitutes an international emergency, its highest form of alert. Only six such emergencies have previously been declared: COVID-19 (2020), the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (2019), Zika virus (2016), polio (2014), West Africa's Ebola outbreak (2014), and the H1 virus that caused an influenza pandemic (2009). (6/23)

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Florida Department of Health are investigating "one of the worst outbreaks of meningococcal disease among gay and bisexual men in U.S. history," the CDC said Wednesday. So far, 24 cases and seven deaths among gay and bisexual men have been reported. The CDC says the outbreak is "primarily among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, including those living with HIV. Recent data show that about half of the cases associated with this outbreak are among Hispanic men. This outbreak is mostly affecting people who live in Florida but has also affected some people who have traveled to Florida." (Thomas, 6/22)

Health officials on Wednesday recommended that men in Florida who have sex with other men get a meningococcal vaccine following one of the worst outbreaks among gay and bisexual men in U.S. history of a bacteria that causes meningitis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement that there have been at least 24 cases and seven deaths among gay and bisexual men caused by the bacteria in Florida recently. The CDC also recommended that gay and bisexual men traveling to Florida should ask their health care provider about getting the vaccine. (6/22)