Suspected Monkeypox Cases Rise To 141 In 13 States

As many as 141 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported in Nigeria, up from the previous 110 cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The NCDC disclosed this in its latest monkeypox situation report released on Friday.

The agency said the 31 new suspected cases were reported from June 6 -12, 2022, in 13 states.

The states with the suspected cases are Lagos (5), Katsina (4), Ondo (4), Bayelsa (4), Nasarawa (3), Ogun (3), Oyo (2), Akwa Ibom (1) Delta (1), Edo (1), Kaduna (1), Kano (1), and Imo (1).

The PUNCH reports that since September 2017, Nigeria has continued to report an increase in cases of monkeypox.

However, a monkeypox National Emergency Operations Centre was activated on May 26, 2022, in response to the risk assessment conducted, which put Nigeria at high risk for a Monkeypox outbreak.

“The essence of the activation was to improve the coordination of related preparedness/response activities across the country,” the NCDC said.

“From January 1st to 12th June 2022, there have been 141 suspected cases in total and 36 confirmed cases from fifteen (15) states – Lagos (7), Adamawa (5), Delta (3), River (3), Cross River (2), FCT (2), Kano (2), Bayelsa (2), Edo (2), Imo (2), Plateau (2), Nasarawa (1), Niger (1), Oyo (1) and Ondo (1).

“One death was recorded in a 40-year-old man with co-morbidity that was receiving immunosuppressive drugs.

“Overall and from September 2017 to 12th June 2022, a total of 653 suspected cases have been reported from 33 states in the country.

“Of the reported cases, 262 (40.1%) have been confirmed in 23 states – Rivers (55), Bayelsa (45), Lagos (37), Delta (32), Cross River (16), Edo (12), Imo (10), Akwa Ibom (7), Oyo (7), FCT (8), Plateau (5), Adamawa (5), Enugu (4), Abia (3), Nasarawa (3), Benue (2), Anambra (2), Ekiti (2), Kano (2), Niger (2), Ebonyi (1), Ogun (1) and Ondo (1).

“In addition, from September 2017 to June 12th, 2022, a total of nine (9) deaths have been recorded (CFR= 3.4%) in six states – Lagos (3), Edo (2), Imo (1), Cross River (1), FCT (1) and Rivers (1),” it noted.

According to the NCDC, Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease transmitted from animals to humans that occur sporadically, primarily in remote villages of Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.