Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Monkeypox virus can be shed into the surrounding environment by people who are infected, particularly in shed skin particles and in debris from monkeypox skin lesions and scabs. The virus is relatively hardy and under appropriate conditions can remain infectious on surfaces for weeks, creating a potential infection risk to others.

3d microbiology render of Monkeypox virus

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) recommends that patients with monkeypox who have severe disease requiring hospital admission are cared for in isolation rooms, with infection prevention and control (IPC) precautions that aim to contain potentially infectious virus within the room and protect staff who enter. However, to date it has been unclear whether these measures are proportionate to the potential virus exposure risks.

To investigate this, researchers from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine and the UKHSA conducted a study which collected samples from the rooms of patients hospitalised with monkeypox. The findings have been published in The Lancet Microbe.

The research team assessed the extent of virus shedding onto surfaces in specialist isolation rooms containing patients admitted to hospital for the management of severe monkeypox. They also investigated whether the virus was detectable in air samples from the rooms.

The researchers found that viral DNA shed by the patients could be found on multiple surfaces throughout the isolation rooms (56 (93%) positive by PCR out of 60 samples). Monkeypox virus DNA was also found on personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by healthcare workers caring for these patients, and in the anterooms where they remove their PPE. Monkeypox virus DNA was also detected in five out of twenty air samples taken within these isolation rooms.

Read the full story on the University of Oxford website

Similar stories

RECOVERY trial team awarded MRC Impact Prize for Outstanding Team Impact

The Medical Research Council Prize Committee has awarded the RECOVERY trial team the MRC Impact Prize 2022 for Outstanding Team Impact.

Professor Sir Chris Whitty brings greater understanding of epidemics to Oxford

Chief Medical Officer of England Professor Sir Chris Whitty KCB FMedSci delivers the Sherrington Prize Lecture: Public Understanding of Science to an audience of Oxford staff and students.

Multiple Debilitating Pains – New global study shows the experience of Endometriosis is rooted in a person’s genetics

Researchers at the University of Oxford in collaboration with 25 teams across the world have published the largest study to date of the genetic basis of endometriosis.

Study shows delaying treatment for localised prostate cancer does not increase mortality risk

Active monitoring of prostate cancer has the same high survival rates after 15 years as radiotherapy or surgery, reports the largest study of its kind.

Showcasing Oxford’s translational research for Rare Disease Day

Rare Disease Day is an annual awareness day that aims to educate and raise awareness for the 400 million people worldwide who live with a rare disease.

Prostate cancer AI diagnosis tool begins evaluation in Oxford

New artificial intelligence software that can help to spot prostate cancer is being trialled by researchers at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH) NHS Foundation Trust.