Monkeypox outbreak spreads to seven states
LAGOS: Reports say the reported outbreak of viral Monkeypox in Bayelsa state, South Nigeria, on September 22 has spread to seven states with 31 persons suspected to have been infected.
The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) listed the seven affected states as Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River, all in the Niger Delta region; also Ekiti, Lagos and Ogun states in the south-west.
Bayelsa was the first to announce the outbreak of the viral infection. But by Monday Lagos identified two suspected cases which it said recently arrived from Bayelsa and confessed to consuming “bush meat”.
However, NCDC national co-ordinator and chief executive Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu said that samples from all the suspected cases had been taken for confirmation.
“It is unlikely that many of the suspected cases are actually monkeypox, but all are being investigated,” he said.
The centre had already activated its Emergency Operations Centre to co-ordinate investigation and response across the affected states, he added.
All states’ ministries of health have also been put on alert for active case findings and tracing.
Monkeypox is a rare disease that is caused by infection with the monkeypox virus.
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research, hence the name “monkeypox”.
The first human case of monkeypox was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Since then monkeypox has been reported in humans in other central and west African countries.
The symptoms of monkeypox are similar to but milder than the symptoms of smallpox.
Monkeypox begins with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion. The main difference between symptoms of smallpox and monkeypox is that monkeypox causes lymph nodes to swell while smallpox does not.
Lymph nodes are small, beanshaped glands. They are part of the lymph system, which carries fluid (lymph fluid), nutrients, and waste material between the body tissues and the bloodstream.