Separating the rash from the chaff: novel clinical decision support deployed during the mpox outbreak

Jacob E Lazarus; Chloe V Green; Michelle S Jerry; Lindsay Germaine; Dustin S McEvoy; Caitlin M Dugdale; Kristen M Hysell; Rebecca L Craig; Molly L Paras; Howard M Heller; Kevin L Ard; John S Albin; Hang Lee; Erica S Shenoy

doi:10.1017/ice.2024.51

Separating the rash from the chaff: novel clinical decision support deployed during the mpox outbreak

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2024 Apr 2:1-3. doi: 10.1017/ice.2024.51. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jacob E Lazarus^{1

2}, Chloe V Green^{1

3}, Michelle S Jerry^{1

3}, Lindsay Germaine⁴, Dustin S McEvoy⁴, Caitlin M Dugdale^{1

2}, Kristen M Hysell^{1

2}, Rebecca L Craig^{3

5}, Molly L Paras^{1

2}, Howard M Heller^{1

2}, Kevin L Ard^{1

2}, John S Albin^{1

2}, Hang Lee^{2

6}, Erica S Shenoy^{1

2

3

5}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
² Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Infection Control Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
⁴ Clinical Informatics and Decision Support, Digital Health, Mass General Brigham, Somerville, MA, USA.
⁵ Infection Control, Mass General Brigham, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Biostatistics Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

PMID: 38561199
DOI: 10.1017/ice.2024.51

Abstract

A clinical decision support system, EvalMpox, was developed to apply person under investigation (PUI) criteria for patients presenting with rash and to recommend testing for PUIs. Of 668 patients evaluated, an EvalMpox recommendation for testing had a positive predictive value of 35% and a negative predictive value of 99% for a positive mpox test.