The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control has confirmed 133 cases of monkeypox in 26 states.
The NCDC disclosed this in its latest monkeypox situation report released on Thursday.
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.
Nigeria is one of the countries in Africa where the disease is endemic.
The agency said from January to July 24, 2022, three deaths were recorded in three states – Delta (1), Lagos (1) and Ondo (1).
The report also showed that there were at least 357 suspected cases of the disease in the country.
The report read in part, “There were 19 new suspected cases reported in Epi week 29, 2022 (July 18 to 24, 2022) from 12 states – Ondo (4), Bayelsa (3), Taraba (2), Lagos (2), Rivers (1), Kogi (1), Kano (1), Imo (1), Delta (1), Anambra (1), Akwa Ibom (1) and Abia (1).
“Of 19 suspected cases, there were 15 new confirmed positive cases in Epi week 29, 2022 from 10 states – Ondo (3), Taraba (2), Lagos (2), Bayelsa (2), Rivers (1), Kogi (1), Imo (1), Delta (1), Anambra (1) and Abia (1).
“From January 1 to July 24, 2022, there have now been 357 suspected cases and 133 confirmed cases (89 male, 44 female) from 26 states – Lagos (17), Adamawa (11), Delta (11), Rivers (10), Bayelsa (10), Ondo (9), Edo (8), Nasarawa (7), Plateau (6), FCT (5), Anambra (5), Taraba (5), Imo (4), Cross River (3), Kwara (3), Borno (3), Oyo (3), Kano (2), Katsina (2), Gombe (2), Kogi (2), Niger (1), Ogun (1), Bauchi (1), Akwa Ibom (1) and Abia (1). Three deaths were recorded from thre states – Delta (1), Lagos (1), and Ondo (1).
“Overall, since the re-emergence of monkeypox in September 2017 and to July 24, 2022, a total of 869 suspected cases have been reported from 35 states in the country.
“Of these 869 suspected cases, there have been 359 (41.3%) confirmed (237 male, 122 female) from 30 states – Rivers (62), Bayelsa (53), Lagos (47), Delta (40), Edo (18), Cross River (17), Imo (12), FCT (11), Adamawa (11), Ondo (9), Nasarawa (9), Oyo (9), Plateau (9), Akwa Ibom (8), Anambra (7), Taraba (5), Enugu (4), Abia (4), Kwara (3), Borno (3), Benue (2), Ekiti (2), Kano (2), Niger (2), Ogun (2), Katsina (2), Gombe (2) Kogi (2), Ebonyi (1), and Bauchi (1).
“In addition, from September 2017 to July 24, 2022, a total of 11 deaths have been recorded (CFR= 3.0%) in eight states – Lagos (3), Edo (2), Imo (1), Cross River (1), FCT (1), Rivers (1), Ondo (1) and Delta (1).”
The NCDC noted that there are ongoing efforts to strengthen surveillance at national and subnational levels.
A Medical Laboratory Scientist at the Department of Microbiology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Anambra State, Obinna Chukwudi, tasked the government on vaccine production and availability.
Chukwudi said, “At the moment, the best thing to do is to make sure vaccines are available; you can’t always be too careful. To tame the infection, the government needs to ensure that everybody is properly vaccinated and the early we start the vaccination, the better for us.
“This is a re-emerging disease and this means that it becomes more dangerous than before; because it keeps mutating. The government needs to ensure that every state in the country has vaccines; establish a task force group to ensure that people are vaccinated and we will have fewer casualties among us.
“We can produce vaccines in the country because we did it before and we can do it again, we have the human resources but there is a lack of political will.”
Also, the immediate past President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, urged the Federal Government to increase funding for the health sector.
“If there is adequate funding, the experts in the country can produce vaccines instead of depending on international bodies for vaccines,” he said.