Nigeria records one death, confirms 61 cases of Monkeypox

Fourteen weeks after the first suspected monkeypox case in the
country, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has reported the
first death from the disease. The agency also announced 61 confirmed
cases.

According to the situation report for monkeypox outbreak released by
the health agency for the epidemiological week 49, on Wednesday, the
dead patient was a confirmed case with background immune-compromised
condition.

The health agency however said it has deactivated the monkeypox Emergency Operations Centre, EOC, this week.

Response to the disease will henceforth be coordinated by ”a
technical working group” comprising of all existing response partners.

It added that there has been a decline in the number of new suspected cases reported over the last five weeks.

Since the onset of the outbreak, a total of 172 cases (suspected,
confirmed and probable) have been recorded from 22 States and the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Five additional cases and two probable
cases have been recorded since the last update, bringing the total
confirmed cases to 61 in 14 states.

The first suspected case of the disease was reported in Bayelsa and
later reported at neighbouring River State before spreading to other
states across the country.

One new suspected case was reported from Adamawa State in the
reporting week, while two new confirmed cases were recorded in the
reporting week from Bayelsa.

The health agency said though clustering of cases was demonstrated in
some instances, there was no known evidence yet of epidemiological
linkages across states. It added that only 7 per cent of the current
cases in Nigeria have been linked to human to human transmission,
including one health worker.

The NCDC said it would continue to coordinate the response to the disease through its EOC.

“To enhance data management and real-time mapping of cases and
contacts, the Surveillance and Outbreak Response Management System,
SORMAS, app was deployed on November 4, 2017 to the outbreak.

”However, the monkeypox EOC has been deactivated this week and the
response will henceforth be coordinated by a technical working group
comprising of all existing response partners,” it said.

Statistics from NCDC also showed that men were more infected by the
disease as the male to female ratio for confirmed cases is 3:1 and the
most affected age group is 21-40 years.

It said the scare of the disease had disrupted immunisation routine across the country.The minister of health Isaac Adewole had to appeal to Nigerians to
continue allowing their children receive immunisation as monkeypox could
not be transmitted through immunisation and has no vaccine.

 Mr. Adewole had assured that monkeypox could only be transmitted from
one person to another. He said human-to-human transmission occurs
through respiratory droplets, contact with infected persons or
contaminated materials.

Control measures, he said, include isolation of suspected or
confirmed cases, strict adherence to universal precautions, especially
frequent handwashing with soap and water, and use of personal protective
equipment.

Mr. Adewole said signs and symptoms of the disease include fever,
headache, body pain, malaise, lymphadenopathy (enlargement of glands),
sore throat, and the characteristic generalised vesicular rash. He said
rashes might last between two and four weeks.