With 33 suspected cases of “monkey pox infection” already recorded in seven states, the Federal Government is still trying to confirm exactly what health workers are dealing with.
According to Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole, many of the cases reported in Bayelsa, Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Ogun and Cross River did not fit into the classic prototype of monkey pox.
He spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Adewole was with Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige and the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina.
The minister said: “Many of the cases so reported do not fit into the classic prototype of monkey pox. But we are trying to confirm and before the end of today or early tomorrow, we should be able to confirm exactly what we are dealing with. Is it truly monkey pox? But what is obvious is that we have a disease that is close to the pox family.
“One of our scientists, Prof. Christian Appeh, is looking into it in the laboratory to confirm if it is truly monkey pox. We are also doing a double confirmation in Senegal because Senegal also has a public health laboratory that could make diagnosis.
“We are looking at the two and hopefully in the next 24 or 48 hours, we should be able to make a diagnosis as to what we have.”
According to him, there was no reported case of death from the decease.
He said: “The other one which is less topical but less deadly is monkey pox and this actually started in Bayelsa and we have recorded 33 suspected cases in all from the states, Bayelsa, Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Ogun and Cross River.
In the interim, he urged Nigerians not to panic, but to continue to maintain high-level of hygiene and avoid contact with dead animals.
He said: “Our advice to Nigerians will be not to panic, report all suspected cases to health facilities and to continue to maintain a high level of hygiene. Let’s wash our hands, let’s avoid contact with dead animals and clean our surroundings.
“And as much as possible for health workers to maintain barrier nursing while managing people with suspected cases of monkey pox.
“There are two types of monkey pox. There is the Central African type and the West African type. We suspect that if confirmed, we probably have the West African type, which is milder because so far we have not recorded any death from monkey pox.”
Adewole added: “FEC received the usual report on public health situation in the country and that report dealt with our current tracking of several outbreaks in the country. We presented the status report on Lassa fever, and we reported that no new confirmed case of lassa fever has been reported in the country.
“We also reported the declining case of cholera in Borno State and we are quite happy that no death has been reported from Borno State.
“There is also an ongoing outbreak of yellow fever, which started in Kwara. So far, we have recorded four cases in Kwara, two in Kogi, two in Plateau, one in Abia and one in Edo, making 10 cases in all.
“What we have decided to do is to start our reactive campaign in Kwara and Kogi starting from Friday.”
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