Monkeypox: Virus DNA is widespread in treatment rooms, study finds

Healthcare workers treating patients with monkeypox should use personal protective equipment (PPE), regularly disinfect any frequently touched surfaces, and practise hand hygiene to protect themselves from becoming infected, researchers have said, after they found that viral DNA circulated widely in the air in hospital isolation treatment rooms.“These results suggest that monkeypox virus shed into a hospitalised patient’s environment poses an infection risk that needs to be managed,” said Susan Gould of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who is an author of the study published in Lancet Microbe.1She added, “In the context of ward based care, our results support infection prevention and control measures designed to protect against exposure to infectious virus on surfaces and in the air, such as appropriate PPE, as well as applying measures designed to contain shed virus within hospitalised patients’ isolation rooms, including the use of negative pressure rooms and doffing areas.”More than 70 000…
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