The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has revealed that the country recorded a total of 39 confirmed cases and zero deaths across 33 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), from the beginning of 2024.
Director General of the NCDC, Dr. Idris Ojo disclosed this on Thursday, August 15, 2024 at a Press Conference in Abuja.
Ojo informed that his agency had been monitoring several endemic diseases including Mpox which had been declared a Public Health Emergency of International / Continental Concern (PHEIC / PHECC) by both the WHO and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa
CDC).
He said; “So far, about 2,863 confirmed cases and 517 deaths across 13 African countries have been reported in 2024 alone. This alarming increase is linked to a new strain of the Mpox virus which emerged in eastern Congo and has since been detected in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
“In Nigeria, cumulatively, a total of 39 confirmed cases and zero deaths have been recorded across 33 States + FCT, from the beginning of the year 2024.
“Bayelsa (5), Cross River (5), Ogun (4), Lagos (4), Ondo (3), and Ebonyi (3) leading the pack”.
The DG further stated that the press conference was part of effort to intensify coordination and communication with stakeholders to manage the spread of the virus and prevent disease importation, while noting the significant concern of the ease of cross-border transmission.
Mpox is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease (i.e., disease of animals transmitted from animals to humans) that is endemic in several African countries including the tropical rainforests of Central and West Africa.
The exact reservoir of the virus is
still unknown although rodents, squirrels and monkeys are suspected to play a part in transmission.
The Mpox virus can spread both from animal to human and from human to human.
Animal-to-human transmission may occur by direct contact with the blood, body fluids, skin or mucosal lesions of infected animals (e.g., monkeys, squirrels, and rodents). This can happen through a bite, scratch, handling of, or eating inadequately cooked or other products of infected bushmeat.
Human-to-human (person-to-person)
transmission occurs when a person comes into contact with the virus from an infected human, or materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing, beddings.
