Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has cautioned that monkeypox, a disease endemic to West and Central African countries, can be transmitted through sexual contact.
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus, which belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus in the Poxviridae family.
The disease has lately emerged in a number of European nations. 66 suspected cases have been documented in Nigeria so far in 2022.
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NCDC said in a statement on Thursday that 21 of the 66 cases had been confirmed; but that cases had been reported in the United Kingdom, the United States, Portugal, Spain, Israel, Lebanon, and Canada, among other nations.
In a statement released last week, World Health Organization warned that the Monkeypox disease outbreak is being identified in areas where it is not prevalent.
NCDC, on the other hand, highlighted that sexual intercourse is a method of transmission in a blog post on its website.
The post read;
Symptoms of the illness include fever, headache, body aches, weakness, swollen lymph nodes (glands); and a rash. After about 1 to 3 days of fever, the rash erupts; beginning on the face and then spreading to the body with the face and palms/soles being mostly affected.
They can also occur in and around the genitals which is why contact during sex is one mode of transmission. It is mostly a self-limiting illness that often lasts for two to four weeks.
