Map shows how monkeypox has swept the globe as Pandemic Institute hands £500k to Liverpool researchers

The Pandemic Institute has awarded nearly half a million pounds to Liverpool researchers to help tackle the growing threat of monkeypox.

Incidents of the disease have risen rapidly since mid-May with the most recent figures showing more than 23,000 cases have been recorded in almost 90 countries.

Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern – the highest level of alert - putting monkeypox on par with diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola and polio.

Researchers at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool John Moores University and other insitutions across the city will launch a series of projects to help combat the spread of the disease.

Funded projects will include research on the origins of the outbreak in Africa, studies of transmission and spread, development of rapid diagnostics, investigation of the body’s immune response to help vaccine development, studies of new drug treatments, and understanding of stigma around the disease.

The first case of monkeypox in Europe was identified in the UK (England) on May 6 but soon after Portugal, Spain, France, Germany and Italy were all recording positive cases.

Official figures from the UK Health Security Agency show as August 1, 2022, there are 2,672 confirmed and 87 highly probable monkeypox cases in the UK. Of these, 2,638 are in England.

The map below will show you how the current outbreak has spread around Europe and the world.

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