Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported in its latest situational report that 60 new cases of monkeypox has been recorded in the country.
This report which was made available to the general public on Monday includes cases of the monkeypox disease that were tracked between August 1 to August 7 in about 18 states of the country, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The country’s disease control agency listed the affected states to be: Ebonyi, FCT, Abia, Adamawa, Ondo, Taraba, Imo and Lagos. Other states which have recorded cases of monkeypox are: Ogun, Edo, Anambra, Gombe, Kwara, Rivers, Cross River, Oyo, Kano, Nasarawa and Niger states.
NCDC also added in the situational report that amongst the 15 additional confirmed cases, Imo State topped with three cases, followed by the FCT with two, Ondo with two, and Rivers, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Edo, Ogun, and Nasarawa states with one case each.
The disease control agency also stated that between January 1 to August 7, there were 473 suspected cases with 172 confirmed cases (115 males, 57 females) from 27 states.
It added that “overall, since the re-emergence of monkeypox in September 2017, a total of 985 suspected cases have been reported from 35 states in the country.
“Of the 985 suspected cases, 398 (40.4 per cent) were confirmed, 263 males, 135 females from 30 states.
“Also, 12 deaths have been recorded since September 2017 in nine states.”
The NCDC said that continued efforts are being made to improve surveillance at the national and subnational levels in order to raise awareness, quickly identify any outbreaks, and take appropriate action.
Most cases before the current worldwide pandemic happened in nations where the virus is prevalent.
But most recent cases, particularly in non-endemic nations, have been found in homosexual, bisexual, or other males who have sex with men.
Anyone may catch the virus, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and there is presently no proof that monkeypox is a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
However, the global organization noted that “close contact with respiratory secretions, skin, or other bodily fluids might result in human-to-human transmission.”
A person’s diseased skin sores or freshly contaminated goods.
Swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, exhaustion, and muscular pains are among the symptoms of monkeypox.
Health professionals advise people to avoid making intimate physical contact with those who have a rash that resembles the monkey pox and to think about limiting sex with several or anonymous partners.
The virus that causes monkey pox is comparable to smallpox, although the symptoms are milder. After outbreaks occurred in research-held monkeys, it was found in 1958.
The virus is mostly present in portions of Central and West Africa, but it has lately expanded to dozens of nations and infected tens of thousands of individuals, mostly males who have sex with men.
In the meanwhile, the WHO recently designated the various monkeypox strains as Clades l, llA, and llB to prevent social and cultural offense.
