Nigeria has recorded 21 confirmed cases of the Monkeypox disease in the last five months with one death according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The NCDC further disclosed that in the month of May, only six new confirmed positive cases were reported from four States with Bayelsa (2), Adamawa (2), Lagos (1) and Rivers (1).
Also 20 suspected cases were reported from eleven States with Lagos (5), Bayelsa (2), Adamawa (2), Rivers (2), Niger (2), FCT (2), Delta (1), Oyo (1), Kaduna (1), Edo (1) and Gombe (1).
A 40- year-old man with renal co-morbidity and on immune-suppressive drugs died from the disease.
The agency revealed that from September 2017 to May 29th, 2022, 578 suspected cases have been reported from 32 States.
Of the reported cases, 247 (42.7 per cent) have been confirmed in 22 states – Rivers (53), Bayelsa (45), Lagos (34), Delta (31), Cross River (16), Edo (10), Imo (9), Akwa Ibom (7), Oyo (6), FCT (8), Enugu (4), Abia (3), Plateau (3), Adamawa (5), Nasarawa (2), Benue (2), Anambra (2), Ekiti (2), Kano (2), Ebonyi (1), Niger (1) and Ogun (1).
Also, nine deaths have been recorded (case fatality ratio (CFR) = 3.6 per cent) in six states, namely Lagos (3), Edo (2), Imo (1), Cross River (1), FCT (1) and Rivers (1) from September 2017 to May 29th, 2022.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms very similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.