Center Confirms One Death, 61 Cases Of Monkeypox In Nigeria

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported the first death and 61 cases of monkeypox fourteen weeks after the first outbreak of the disease in the country.

According to situation report for monkeypox outbreak released by the health agency for the epidemiological week 49, on Wednesday, the dead patient was a confirmed case with a “background immune-compromised condition.”

The health agency, however, said it has deactivated the monkeypox Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) this week.

In addition, five additional confirmed cases and two probable cases have been reported since the last update, bringing the total confirmed cases to 61 in 14 states.

There has been a decline in the number of new suspected cases reported over the last five weeks. Since the onset of the outbreak, a total of 172 cases (suspected, confirmed and probable) have been recorded from 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

According to the NCDC, only seven percent of the current cases in Nigeria have been linked to human-to-human transmission, including one healthcare worker.

The first suspected case of the disease was reported in Bayelsa and later reported at neighbouring River State before spreading to other states across the country.

One new suspected case was reported from Adamawa State in the reporting week, while two new confirmed cases were recorded in the reporting week from Bayelsa.

The health agency said though clustering of cases was demonstrated in some instances, there was no known evidence yet of epidemiological linkages across states.