If the current trend of infections is sustained, confirmed cases of monkeypox in Nigeria might reach their highest level in five years, the director of the nation’s center for disease control warned on Tuesday, June 28.
One of the African nations where monkeypox is endemic is Nigeria.
A person contracts monkeypox when they come into touch with the virus from an animal, another person, or contaminated objects.
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Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, has confirmed 62 cases this year, almost twice as many as there were all of previous year.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Nigeria reported 88 cases in 2017.
The disease re-emerged in Nigeria in 2017 after nearly four decades without any reported cases, Idefayo Adefita, NCDC director general told reporters during a virtual briefing.
Adetifa said;
We now know based on the trend that we have seen in the last few weeks that if the current trajectory continues or is sustained we may find ourselves in a situation where we match or exceed the peak number of cases seen in 2017.
The number of verified cases of the viral illness surpassed 4,300, outbreaks of the disease were reported in more than 40 nations where the disease is not endemic.
According to Lateefat Amao, director of the NCDC’s national monkeypox emergency operations centre, more people may have become aware of the symptoms and presented themselves to hospitals this year than in years past, which may have contributed to the rise in reported cases.
She claimed that there was currently no proof of sexual transmission of monkeypox in Nigeria.
Adetifa stated that Nigeria has contacted the US government and the WHO to request access to monkeypox vaccines.
He refused to indicate when the immunizations should arrive.
