Borno State government has Confirmed the outbreak of monkeypox disease in the state. While confirming the monkeypox outbreak to journalists in Maiduguri, director public health, State’s Ministry of Health, Dr Lawi Auta Mshelia, said at the moment the state has sent about four samples from four suspected cases and that three of them tested positive.
Mshelia said while two of the patients with the cases were on admission at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH), the other patient came from Biu local government area of the state.
He said about a week ago one patient was discharged, while the others were improving, adding that they must have been discharged by now being that a patient with monkey pox don’t stay more than two weeks on admission.
Mshelia said, “So there was no likely complication for those three patients. And one good thing was that samples were taken to Abuja
. While it is believed that monkeypox has no cure, some opinions globally including WHO has suggested that smallpox vaccines could be of use to the populace. But for now, nobody is talking about mass vaccination campaign. ”
On whether monkeypox is a contagious disease, Dr Mshelia who spoke on behalf of the state’s commissioner for health, Prof Mohammed Arab, said several opinions based on science, opined that monkeypox is an airborne disease, but noted that some information obtained by the ministry said it is not really an airborne disease.
“So, what people said was that there has to be a body contact with a patient with monkeypox before it is contracted,” he said.
He said one important thing the state had done was to conduct contact tracing in all the hospitals where monkeypox cases were admitted, as well as patients’ homes, including screening and line listing of all staff that provided care to monkeypox clients and family members. “Till date none of the contacts developed the illness,” he said.
