Rivers and Edo States government said it have detected 5 cases of the deadly Mpox infection in the state.
The Rivers Commissioner for Health, Dr Adaeze Oreh, confirmed the development at a news conference in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Oreh said the state had already put its Public Health Emergency Operations Centre on high alert to respond to further emergencies.
“Recently, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control stated that there are 39 confirmed cases of mpox across the country.
“Out of this number, Rivers State has two confirmed cases of Mpox.
“We have deployed our medical teams to respond to all emergencies at the healthcare level, general and specialist hospitals,” she said.
The state government, Oreh said, had put in place an incident plan for Mpox as well as mobilised resources to find all the incidents of Mpox cases across the state.
She said the ministry had engaged and trained ad hoc staff to monitor and effectively combat the infection.
“The ad hoc staff now have the capacity to respond to this infection at all levels of our healthcare pillar,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Director of Public Health, Edo State Ministry of Health, Dr Stephenson Ojeifo, has said the state has recorded three suspected cases of Mpox.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday evening, Ojeifo said though none of the cases had been confirmed as positive, residents of the state should be vigilant.
He said: “We have three suspected cases of Mpox; two patients are in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, and one is at the Edo State University Teaching Hospital, Auchi.”
He explained that while the symptoms of Mpox resembled those of other skin rashes, the ministry was maintaining a high level of caution by isolating the suspected cases for proper management.
“We make sure that any suspected case is isolated, while we send samples to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja for testing.
“So, until the results of the tests are out, we cannot say we have any case of Mpox,” Ojeifo said.
He assured that the patients were not in critical condition but are being isolated as part of the state’s enhanced surveillance measures.
He also said the ministry had strengthened its surveillance across private, public, and primary healthcare centers in the state.
“The ministry is also working with local government health educators to raise public awareness about the symptoms of Mpox”.
Ojeifo noted that while Edo had managed cases of Monkeypox in the past, the current situation was being taken more seriously in line with the WHO and Africa Centre for Disease Control’s alert on it.
“We have had pockets of cases of Mpox in Edo in the past and we have always managed them and they get well,” he said.
NAN reports that Mpox is a viral disease and primarily spreads through close contact with an infected person or animal, or by touching contaminated objects.
It can cause serious complications, especially in individuals with weakened immune systems, but most cases are mild and recover without treatment.
The disease is characterised by flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes, followed by a distinctive rash that develops into small, fluid-filled blisters and eventually forms scabs.
Infection Prevention and Control measures for the disease include regular hand hygiene by washing hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based sanitiser
Other measures are disinfecting surfaces and objects, managing waste properly, and practising respiratory hygiene by covering while coughing and sneezing and using masks in crowded area