4 positive cases of infectious disease confirmed, Lagos unaffected

Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, has confirmed three suspected cases of the infectious monkeypox virus after testing was conducted in a World Health Organisation (WHO) laboratory in Dakar, Senegal.

National Coordinator/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, had announced last week that samples from 31 suspected cases of the virus had been sent to WHO for laboratory confirmation.

Adewole announced on Monday, October 16, 2017, in Abuja that four of the test samples came back positive.

He said, "As of October 13, 2017, there were 17 SUSPECTED cases reported from Yenagoa LGA in Bayelsa State.

"We have received laboratory confirmation for Monkeypox virus from three of these cases from the WHO Regional Laboratory in Dakar, Senegal. Samples from 12 other cases from Bayelsa were negative.

"With these results, four suspected Monkeypox outbreak in Yenagoa have been confirmed with laboratory evidence. The most likely source of infection is a primary zoonotic transmission, from an animal, with secondary person-to-person transmission.

"Since our initial announcement, a total of 43 other SUSPECTED cases have been reported from eight other States (Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ekiti, Lagos, Enugu, Nasarawa, Rivers, and FCT). Of these, four cases from Lagos have also been tested and confirmed to be negative for the Monkeypox virus.

"We expect that many of these cases being reported from other states in Nigeria are not caused by the Monkeypox virus, but we will continue to investigate all those cases that fit the case definition.

"Further laboratory tests using whole genome sequencing are being carried out by the Africa Centre for Genomics and Infectious Diseases in Redeemers University Ede, Ogun State."

Monkeypox is a viral illness caused by a group of viruses that include chicken pox and small pox, with symptoms like severe headache, fever, back pains among others.

The most worrisome symptom is the presence of rashes, bigger than those caused by chicken pox, usually spreading across the whole body of an infected person.

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Since the virus first broke out in Bayelsa state on September 22, 2017, it has spread to Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Ogun and Cross River.