Monkey pox
Mpox cases now 40 as disease spreads to Nigeria’s 19 states
The raging monkey pox outbreak in Nigeria has spread to 30 local government areas in 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with 40 confirmed cases so far.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) report also indicated a total of 802 suspected cases in 33 states in Nigeria.
The report was released days before the United States government donated 10,000 doses of Mpox vaccines to Nigeria.
Hiwever, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC) now declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of International and Continental Concern (PHEIC/PHECC) following the spread of the disease in the continent.
The NCDC report indicated that the latest data on Mpox showed that the 40 cases were confirmed as at August 19, 2024, although no death has been recorded in the country this year.
Accordingly, the states with the confirmed cases are: Bayelsa (5) Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Cross River (4 cases each), Benue (3), Federal Capital Territory ( FCT), Delta, Anambra, Rivers, Plateau (2 each); Nasarawa, Lagos, Zamfara, Kebbi, Oyo, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi (1 each) and Osun (2).
Also, the record of the disease showed 2,863 confirmed cases and 517 deaths in 13 African countries in this year alone.
The outbreak has been linked to a new strain of the Mpox virus which emerged in Eastern Congo and has since been detected in other countries including Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.