A rash of infections

Epidemiologists did the leg work to gather information and certainty before going public with monkey pox. NCDC also issued control measures for the public and health workers.

It warned for suspected or confirmed cases to be isolated, called for strict adherence for universal precautions, and advised frequent handwashing with soap and water and use of personal protective equipment.

But it was the start of a rash of cases. The infection spread to six more states after Bayelsa only days later.

Two cases were reported in Lagos, and officials there raised their “index of suspicion”essentially thinking about the possibility of monkeypox when dealing with any fever and decking out in available protective gear.

Of the two cases under watch for monkey pox, one is confirmed to have visited Bayelsa and eaten “bush meat,” Lagos health commissioner Jide Idris told a press briefing.

Hours later, the NCDC confirmed Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Ogun and Cross River were also among states scrambling with suspected monkey pox.

All decisions were based on clinical observations; laboratory confirmation from the WHO regional lab is yet to return.

The confirmation meant 31 people hospitalized in respective

Once you eat well-cooked or -fried meat, you are perfectly fine. It is the people that actually touch these animals, prepare them, kill them and are in contact with them without personal protective equipment and don’t wash their hands afterward

states, later to rise to 33 days later.

Two other infections reported in Ekiti can also not be confirmed yet. Both were recorded in Okemesi Ekiti, a border town with Osun State in Ekiti West Local Government.

Ekiti instead sent blood samples to Abuja, said its health commissioner Ojo Olurotimi.

“We are still expecting the result,” he added. Meanwhile both patients remain in isolation to avoid further spread.

States yet to report any possible cases are gearing up for possibilities. Edo has opened quarantine centres and published numbers of two top public health officials are hotlines where the Edo residents can report any possible symptom of monkey pox.

The state health ministry is to reactivate an old centre on the slope of Ikpoba hill to be used as a dedicated “situation room”.

Residents have been warned to be “circumspect but calm.”

Ogun has argued against NCDC listing it among the seven states reporting monkey pox. Its health commissioner Babatunde Ipaye said an “overzealous official” noticed lesions on a patient and ran off to report to the NCDC even before Ogun