Fears as Monkeypox cases spread to 26 states, FCT [Full List]

Naija News

The reported cases of Monkeypox in Nigeria keeps rising as it spreads to 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), raising fears among citizens.

Naija News reports that Monkeypox is a viral disease transmitted from animals to humans and from humans to humans.

The federal government has recorded over 473 suspected cases and 172 confirmed cases of the disease from January to August, this year.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the number of cases recorded in the country so far this year is higher than those recorded each in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. In the whole of 2017, there were 88 confirmed cases, 49 in 2018, 47 in 2019, 8 in 2020 and 34 in 2021.

The deadly disease has been spreading across states and the FCT over the last few months.

The states that have recorded monkeypox cases since the beginning of the year are Lagos (20), Ondo (16), Adamawa (13), Rivers (13), Delta (12), Bayelsa (12), Edo (9), Nasarawa (9), Anambra (7), Imo (7), Plateau (6), Taraba (5).

Others are Kwara (5), Kano (5), Abia (4), Cross River (3), Borno (3), Oyo (3), Gombe (3), Katsina (2), Kogi (2), Ogun (2), Niger (1), Bauchi (1), Akwa Ibom (1) and Ebonyi (1) as well as FCT (7).

The rising case of the disease globally had pushed the Director-General of the World Health Organization,Tedros Gebreyesus, to declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern.

Speaking to Daily Trust, an epidemiologist and microbiologist with the African Field Epidemiology Network, Dr Muhammad Shakir Balogun, stated that there is a need to quickly act to reduce the spread of monkeypox…