Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has confirmed 3 cases of the deadly Monkeypox virus in Nigeria. He made the announcement in Abuja after receiving the results of samples sent to Senegal for confirmation.
Suspected cases of the virus were detected in the Country earlier this month and samples were sent to World Health Organisation’s laboratory for confirmation.
The samples were taken from Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ekiti, Lagos, Enugu, Nasarawa, Rivers, Bayelsa and FCT.
Prof Adewole, revealed that 21 samples were sent out of which four from Lagos confirmed as negative, while of 17 were from Bayelsa, 3 cases were confirmed with two other cases still outstanding.
He said the most likely source of infection is the primary zoonotic transmission, (from an animal), with secondary person-to-person transmission.
“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,” he added.
The Professor also said further laboratory tests are being carried out, using whole genome sequencing by the Africa Centre for Genomics and Infectious Diseases in Redeemers University, Ede, Ogun State.
The Minister urged Nigerians not to panic, saying the strain of the virus detected is not deadly and that people should maintain good hygiene as there is no treatment or vaccine for the disease. He also warned the media to stop hyping the disease, advising that they educate the people instead.
“People with the viral disease should not be stigmatized. It is not a deadly strain, it is mild. Though some of the samples are negative, but they gave reactions similar to Monkeypox, so we are still using technology to determine what is wrong.”
Monkeypox begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion. Monkeypox causes lymph nodes to swell and the incubation period (time from infection to symptoms) for monkey pox is usually 7-14 days but can range from 5-21 days.
Early symptoms are:
– Fever
– Headache
– Muscle aches
– Backache
– Swollen lymph nodes
– Chills
– Exhaustion
Within 1-3 days (sometimes longer) after the appearance of fever, the patient develops a rash, often beginning on the face then spread to other parts of the body.
