By CHARLES IWUOHA

The Ebonyi State Government has recorded the first outbreak of monkeypox in the state.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Daniel Umezuruike, disclosed this to journalists in Abakaliki on Monday.

This came as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 60 new suspected cases of monkeypox in its latest situation report covering Aug. 1 to Aug. 7 in 18 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In its epidemiological report made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Abuja, the centre stated that in the same week, the country recorded 15 confirmed new cases.

NAN reports that Monkeypox is a virus similar to smallpox, but symptoms are less severe. It was discovered in 1958 after outbreaks occurred in monkeys kept for research.

The virus is primarily found in parts of Central and West Africa, but recently spread to dozens of countries and has infected tens of thousands of people, overwhelmingly men who have sex with men.

The NCDC listed the affected states as: Ebonyi, FCT, Abia, Adamawa, Ondo, Taraba, Imo and Lagos.

Others are Ogun, Edo, Anambra, Gombe, Kwara, Rivers, Cross River, Oyo, Kano, Nasarawa and Niger states.

The centre added that in the breakdown of the 15 additional confirmed cases, Imo topped with three cases, followed by the FCT with two, Ondo with two, and Rivers, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Edo, Ogun, and Nasarawa states with one case each.

The public health agency stated that from Jan. 1 to Aug. 7, there were 473 suspected cases with 172 confirmed cases (115 males, 57 females) from 27 states.

It added that “overall, since the re-emergence of monkeypox in September 2017, a total of 985 suspected cases have been reported from 35 states in the country.

“Of the 985 suspected cases, 398 (40.4 per cent) were confirmed, 263 males, 135 females from 30 states.

“Also, 12 deaths have been recorded since September 2017 in nine states.”

The NCDC said that there were ongoing efforts to strengthen surveillance at national and sub-national levels to increase awareness, and to promptly detect and respond to any outbreak. (Additional reports by NAN)

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