15 new cases of monkeypox virus confirmed in Nigeria by NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says it has detected 15 confirmed cases of Monkeypox and registered 59 suspected cases of the disease in Nigeria.

Director-General of NCDC, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, made this known on Tuesday, July 20, while reacting to the US resident who recently returned from Nigeria to Dallas, Texas and tested positive for the disease.

Laboratory tests conducted on the patient showed that the patient had been infected with a strain of the virus commonly seen in West Africa, which Nigeria is part of. However, the NCDC director told New Association of Nigeria (NAN) that just as the National Center for Disease Control has been swift to respond to other epidemic-prone diseases before in the country, this would be declared an outbreak when there was a large cluster of cases has been confirmed that constituted an emergency.

The International Health Regulations (IHR) notified the Federal Government of Nigeria the situation and development in Dallas, Texas who reported the case that a patient who recently returned from Nigeria had been diagnosed with the monkeypox disease.

Monkeypox virus re-emerged in Nigeria in September 2017, since then the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has been receiving reports and responded swiftly to sporadic cases of the monkeypox virus from all the state in the Federation.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has been working closely with state ministry of health to make sure that there is proper surveillance and response to the disease, according to the NCDC director.

What is Monkeypox?

Monkeypox is a viral disease which is related to smallpox, it is the only human virus that have been eradicated. The illnesses that goes with it are much less severe than smallpox, but is is still dangerous and deadly. The virus is rarely seen in human.

The first case of the virus was seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.

Symptoms

Symptoms of monkeypox include:
Swollen lymph nodes, headaches, fever, feeling tired, muscle pain, and followed by crusts and blisters all over.

The duration of the symptoms usually takes two to five weeks after exposure.

How can Monkeypox be transmitted?

It can be spread through handling of bush meat, body fluid, animal scratch or bite, coming in close contact with infected people, touch objects that have been contaminated.

Treatment

Currently there is no known treatment for monkeypox, though smallpox vaccine is thought to be helpful.

The United States in 2019 approved some vaccines to treat the disorder, which includes vaccinia immune globulin (VIG), Brincidofovir, Cidofovir.

The death rate from monkeypox is estimated at 10 percent

Monkeypox virus Life cycle

The symptoms of monkeypox can last between two weeks to four weeks in human