FG confirms 3 cases of MonkeyPox in Bayelsa state
The Federal Government on Monday, said it has three confirmed cases of MonkeyPox from Bayelsa State.
The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole stated this when he brief journalists on the results of the 21 MonkeyPox samples that were sent to Senegal for confirmation, in Abuja.
He said though there is no cure or vaccines for MonkeyPox but the virus is not a deadly virus.
It would be recalled that on the 22nd of September 2017, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) received a report of a suspected case of Monkey pox virus disease from the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Okolobiri, Bayelsa State. The Bayelsa State Ministry of Health initiated an outbreak investigation and response, supported by a team from NCDC, which was immediately deployed to the state.
Since our initial announcement, a total of 43 other suspected cases have been reported from Yenagoa LGA in Bayelsa State.
According to Adewole, “We have received laboratory confirmation for MonkeyPox virus from three of these cases from the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Laboratory in Dakar, Senegal. Samples from 12 other cases from Bayelsa were negative.
“With these results, four suspected Monkey pox outbreak in Yenagoa has been confirmed with laboratory evidence. The most likely source of infection is a primary zoonotic transmission, from an animal, with secondary person-to-person transmission.”
He said out of the 43 these, four cases from Lagos have also been tested and confirmed to be negative for the Monkey pox virus.
“We expect that many of these cases being reported from other states in Nigeria are not caused by the Monkey pox virus, but we will continue to investigate all those cases that fit the case definition.
“Further laboratory tests using whole genome sequencing are being carried out by the Africa Centre for Genomics and Infectious Diseases in Redeemers University Ede, Ogun State,” he noted.
Adewole noted that though MonkeyPox has no cure or no vaccine but it is not deadly, “No cure for MonkeyPox yet because it is a viral disease, but it is not deadly and therefore if you have it is not a deadly sentence and I want to use this medium to urge Nigerians not to stigmatise those who have it. Many viruses have no cure, what you do, is over time the body takes over, what we do really is support the system by treating the secondary infection so far what we have is a mild infection.
“Monkey pox is largely a self-limiting disease, from which all suspected patients that have been reported to date are doing well clinically. Even before this confirmation, all the necessary public health measures have been put in place and will continue to be implemented.”
He said the Ministry of Health through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has established an Emergency Operations Centre and will continue to co-ordinate the response across States and test samples from other cases.
He stressed that measures that can be taken to prevent infection with MonkeyPox virus include avoiding contact with squirrels, rats and similar animals, especially when these animals are sick or found dead in areas where the MonkeyPox virus is circulating. The public is advised to always wash hands with soap and water after contact with animals or when caring for sick relatives.
The MonkeyPox begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion. MonkeyPox causes lymph nodes to swell (lymphadenopathy) and the incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkey pox is usually 7-14 days but can range from 5-21 days.
Nigerians were advised to remain calm and supportive.