The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 24 monkeypox cases in seven days across 12 states with 4 casualties also recorded.
The NCDC disclosed this in a statement on Monday evening as cases in Nigeria surpasses over a hundred this year, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
This makes it 157 positive infections of monkeypox confirmed between January 1 and July 31.
What the NCDC is saying
NCDC revealed that of 24 additional cases, Ondo State has 5 cases, while Lagos and Kano have 3 each; Abia, Adamawa, Bayelsa and Kwara have 2 each and Delta, Anambra, Gombe, Rivers, and Nasarawa, 1 each.
It added that the casualties were recorded from Lagos, Delta, Ondo and Akwa Ibom, stating that of the confirmed cases in Nigeria, 105 are males while 52 are females.
NCDC states, “From September 2017 to July 31, 2022, a total of 12 deaths had been recorded in 9 states.
“And they are Lagos (three), Edo (two), Imo (one), Cross River (one), the FCT (one), Rivers (one), Ondo (one), Delta (one) and Akwa Ibom (one).”
Monkeypox virus requires intimate, often skin-to-skin contact with an infected individual’s rashes, scabs, bodily fluids, or contaminated linens to spread.
It has become a global issue since May, as more than 80 countries where monkeypox was not endemic had reported nearly 28,000 cases including about 7,500 in the U.S alone.
What you should know
- Nairametrics reported last month that the World Health Organization declared the growing Monkeypox outbreak, an international public health emergency following concerns that the virus now threatens global health.
- WHO also added that a coordinated international response is needed, and the declaration does not impose requirements on national governments – as the health organization can only issue guidance and recommendations to its member states. It serves as an urgent call for action and member states are expected to report events that pose a threat to global health.
