By Praise Chinecherem
Anambra state residents have been placed on alert as government on Thursday disclosed that two suspected cases of monkey pox, a deadly viral disease have been recorded in the state.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike who disclosed this to reporters in Awka, said one of the suspected cases has been confirmed positive.
Obidike said the state government had been on alert mode following the report of the disease early this year across some states in the country.
He added that the state emergency preparedness and response team put relevant surveillance measures in place towards ending spread of the outbreak.
The Commissioner, however urged residents of the state not to panic and report to the hospital for proper examination whenever they notice rashes on their skin.
He said, “Few weeks ago, two suspected cases of monkeypox were reported in Anambra East, Onitsha and Oyi Local Government Areas, out of which the case from Anambra East LGA was confirmed positive.
“The case is currently at the isolation centre of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where he is receiving treatment and recovering.
“In light of the above, Governor Charles Soludo immediately declared the incident an outbreak and an emergency preparedness and response committee meeting was immediately convened on Wednesday.
“The meeting was attended by relevant stakeholders including World Health Organisation team and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). They are providing necessary assistance to the state
“Planning for immediate response to the outbreak and surveillance, Laboratory, Case management, Risk Communication and Community Engagement, Infection Prevention and Control and Safe Burial pillars, were activated.”
Obidike further announced the commencement of training of health Personnel and Response Officers on enhanced active case search, sample collections and monkeypox management as well as intensify public awareness.
“Once it is established at the hospital, the patient will be taken to our Isolation centres for treatment. We have activated all our Isolation centres in the state.
“We urge residents to remain calm and stay safe as we mitigate this outbreak of Monkeypox in the state. We shall overcome again, ” he added.
Also speaking, Anambra state Coordinator, World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Adamu Abdulnasir, pledged the organisation’s support to the state in terms of outbreak response, surveillance and capacity building.
“Since we heard about the two suspected cases, WHO has supported in the areas of sample collection and taking the sample to the lab. When the results came out, we carried out contact tracing as well as case and risks management.
“in Nigeria so far, we have recorded 41 cases of Monkeypox with one death. The Government is taking proactive measure to bring this outbreak to a stop and sensitise people on how to prevent and protect themselves,” he stressed.
Monkey Pox, according to WHO facts book is caused by a monkeypox virus, a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus un the family of Poxviridae.” It’s usually a self-limited disease with the symptoms lasting 2 to 4 weeks. Sever cases can occur. In recent times, the case fatality has been around 3-6%. It’s transmitted to humans through close contact with an infected person or animal, or with material contaminated with the virus”, WHO explains.
