#MonkeyPox: Nigeria Records 4 New Infections – NCDC

Four positive cases of monkeypox in four states in Nigeria have been confirmed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), raising the total confirmed cases to 36. 

The new cases come after the organisation confirmed ten new positive cases on Sunday, June 5, in Epi week 22, 2022, from six states; Edo (2), Rivers (2), Plateau (2), Lagos (2), Ondo (1) and Imo (1).

NCDC said new suspected cases from Monday, June 6, to Sunday, June 12, were reported from 13 states; Lagos (5), Katsina (4), Ondo (4), Bayelsa (4), Nasarawa (3), Ogun (3), Oyo (2), Akwa Ibom (1) Delta (1), Edo (1), Kaduna (1), Kano (1), and Imo (1). 

Of the suspected cases, Lagos, Delta, Oyo and Nasarawa recorded one case each.

Since the beginning of the year, Nigeria has reported 141 suspected cases and 36 confirmed cases from 15 states – Lagos (7), Adamawa (5), Delta (3), River (3), Cross River (2), FCT (2), Kano (2), Bayelsa (2), Edo (2), Imo (2), Plateau (2), Nasarawa (1), Niger (1), Oyo (1) and Ondo (1). 

NCDC said a 40-year-old man with co-morbidity who received an immunosuppressant died of the infection.  

To improve surveillance and response activities against the diseases, the Centre activated a monkeypox National emergency operations centre (EOC). 

So far, NCDC stated that there would  be “a 100 per cent increase in cases reporting due to ongoing efforts to increase awareness and improve surveillance.”  

In Yobe State, Northeast Nigeria, a community health organisation has adopted a door-to-door approach to curb monkeypox.

The state government trained about 20 community health extension workers (CHEWs) with preventive messages about the monkeypox outbreak. 

Yobe State Government deployed the strategy with the support of the  World Health Organisation (WHO) to reach 20,0000 households with risk communication messages.

What this means for health agency  

On Wednesday, June 8, the WHO warned that the risk of monkeypox becoming established in non-endemic countries is “real” and informed that the number of cases had crossed 1,000 in nearly 30 countries. 

At a media briefing in Geneva, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said with more than 1,000 monkeypox cases reported, “the situation was unlikely to escalate into a full-blown pandemic.”

Ghebreyesus said that the scenario could be prevented and urged affected countries to make every effort to identify all cases and contacts to control this outbreak and prevent onward spread. 

The measures involve administering smallpox vaccines — which are thought to be effective against monkeypox because the viruses are related to people exposed to monkeypox through close contact with an infected person.

Nigeria’s Ifedayo Adetifa expressed concerns that monkeypox’s close relation to the smallpox virus could become a significant health problem. 

Adetifa, the Director-General of the NCDC, said smallpox is an acute contagious sickness caused by the variola virus that caused millions of deaths before it was declared eradicated in 1980 by WHO.

“Monkeypox can potentially change from being a sporadic transmission to something that can give the Nigerian health sector a major concern,” he said during an interview on Channels TV.

“It is a disease that we do not fully understand; there are no vaccines available now and no established treatment.” 

Adetifa advised Nigerians to avoid eating bush meats and cultivate the habit of storing their food items properly from rodents.