FG: No cause for alarm over monkey pox

The Federal Ministry of Health said there was no cause for panic over the reported cases of Monkey pox disease in Bayelsa State.

Minister of Health Professor Isaac Adewole in a statement yesterday said health facilities in Bayelsa had been placed on alert, and that patients suspected of having monkey pox were quarantined, while supportive treatments were being offered to the victims.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said the disease first presented in an 11-yearold boy, who’s been places on treatment at Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH) in Yenagoa.

Eleven other people with similar conditions are also on treatment. Epidemiologists continue to trace others, who may have had contact with any of those infected.

“As at 1st October 2017, 32 close contacts of the cases have been identified, advised appropriately and are being monitored,” said NCDC chief executive Chikwe Ihekweazu.

NCDC said it has collected appropriate clinical samples from the cases and are being analysed through the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja.

Monkey pox is a viral disease similar to chicken pox and small pox. But it is so rare, it was last reported in Nigeria in the 1970s.

It is primarily transmitted from animals to humans, but subsequent human-tohuman transmission is limited. Squirrels, rats and sometimes, monkeys commonly carry monkey pox and authorities have warned about close contact with them.