A team at Oxford University are leading a study to investigate a potential treatment for people who have been diagnosed with monkeypox.

The study is being funded by The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the first patients have already been recruited.

The new placebo-controlled randomised trial of tecovirimat in non-hospitalised monkeypox patients (PLATINUM) study will test the efficacy and safety of tecovirimat, an antiviral treatment originally developed for smallpox.

Despite historically being rare outside of west and central Africa, a monkeypox outbreak was identified in the UK in May this year and it has since been declared by the World Health Organisation as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

Monkeypox symptoms include a rash with painful blisters, fever, muscle ache, and swelling of lymph glands.

Vaccines can reduce the risk of catching monkeypox, though there are currently no proven treatments to speed up recovery for those who do catch it.

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