HPRU-EZI awarded DHSC funding as part of our Monkeypox research programme

The HPRU-EZI has been directly awarded £200,000 from the Department of Health & Social Care to support LSTM-based researchers to continue their work on monkeypox. 

The viral infection is usually found in West and Central Africa but an increasing number of cases have been identified elsewhere including the UK and the World Health Organization (WHO) has now classified the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern - putting monkeypox on par with diseases such as Covid-19, Ebola and polio.

One of the projects includes air and surface sampling in UK hospitals, led by Dr Susie Gould. Environmental sampling has been conducted around the majority of Mpox infected patients admitted to the Liverpool Royal University Hospital since May 2022. Over 120 samples including surface swabs, gelatin filters used in button air samplers, Sartorius MD8 Airport samplers and cellulose nitrate membranes used in Anderson 6 stage cascade impactor samplers have been collected. A notification system within the High Consequence Infectious Diseases Network and in particular the Liverpool Royal University Hospital and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has been established for if and when cases are reported. There are also established links with RFH and sexual health clinics in London, where previous collaborative environmental sampling has been undertaken.