Mpox! Nigeria Posts 39 Confirmed Cases

Nigeria has reported 39 confirmed cases of the dreaded mpox but zero death, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said on Thursday.

Dr. Jide Idris, Director-General, NCDC, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) had on Wednesday declared mpox ravaging some countries in Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).

According to Idris, in Nigeria, cumulatively, a total of 39 confirmed cases and zero deaths had been recorded across 33 States plus the FCT from the beginning of the year 2024.

He disclosed that Bayelsa had recorded five cases, Cross River, five cases; Ogun, four cases; Lagos, four cases; Ondo, three cases and Ebonyi, three cases.

The NCDC boss said noting the significant concern of the ease of cross-border transmission, this press conference was part of the effort to intensify the centre’s coordination and communication with stakeholders to manage the spread of the virus and prevent disease importation.

Idris said the mpox virus could spread both from animal to human and from human to human, saying that animal-to-human transmission might occur by direct contact with the blood, body fluids, skin, or mucosal lesions of infected animals, such as monkeys, squirrels, and rodents.

He explained that this could happen through a bite, scratch, handling of, or eating inadequately cooked or other products of infected bushmeat, adding that human-to-human transmission occurred when a person comes into contact with the virus from an infected human, or materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing, or bedding.

Symptoms of the illness include fever, headache, body aches, weakness, swollen lymph nodes (glands), and a rash. After about one to three 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 another mode of transmission.

“As part of the government’s ongoing efforts, we have intensified surveillance across Nigeria to swiftly detect and respond to any new cases. This puts all port health services across all five international airports, 10 seaports, and 51 land/foot crossing borders on high alert.

“Diagnostic protocols according to the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response are now distributed to these locations and port health officers are on high alert and screening for suspected cases,” Idris stated.

Idris said some states had also been put on high alert including Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Kano, Rivers, Cross-River, Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, and Taraba.

The NCDC DG said the centre is also conducting contact tracing and monitoring for confirmed cases to prevent further spread, saying this would now also include a declaration by travellers who had been to any of the countries where there had been an ongoing outbreak of mpox in the last 90 days.