Monrovia — The National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) has confirmed one case of Monkeypox virus in Sinoe County Liberia.
Monkeypox is a rare zoonotic infection caused by monkeypox virus. It is an emerging disease which has become the most prevalent orthopoxvirus since the global eradication of smallpox in 1980. It is a mild illness which is mostly characterized by a prodrome of fever, malaise and progressive appearance of vesiculo-papular skin lesions.
Addressing a press conference Monday at NIPHIL headquarters in Congo Town, the director general Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan said as it stands NIPHIL has conducted six tests of suspected cases, and out of which one was confirmed positive in the southeastern region.
"In Liberia, far before that was declared, we had a few cases in the last five months or so, few cases of Monkeypox detected in this country, as we indicated during our last MICAT press briefings, Monkeypox had been detected in Liberia since the 1970s and there have been intermittent detections and outbreaks around the world."
The Liberian government has been proactive in addressing the recent Monkeypox outbreak, which was declared an international health concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), he said.
Despite previous intermittent outbreaks since the 1970s, the current situation has garnered global attention, with significant cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries including Liberia.
Dr. Nyan said Liberia has activated its surveillance and response mechanisms, including border control and contact tracing.
He disclosed the first confirmed case was identified in Sinoe County, a seven-year-old girl with no travel history.
He said efforts are underway to secure vaccines and diagnostic kits, and an incident management system has been established to coordinate national responses.
The WHO and Africa CDC declared Monkeypox as a health situation of international concern, prompting Liberia to activate its preparedness and response mechanisms.
Dr. Nyan said Liberia had detected a few cases of Monkeypox in the last five months, adding that the current outbreaks are significant global, with many cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other East African countries, including Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, and Uganda.
The NPHIL boss expressed concern about the movement of people and goods between Liberia and neighboring countries, particularly Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to the risk of Monkeypox transmission.
He detailed the immediate steps taken by the National Public Health Institute to set up surveillance and monitoring mechanisms.
He said authorities at the national port were engaged to assess response capabilities, and similar work was done at other border points in Liberia to monitor the movement of people.
He mentioned the activation of epidemiological surveillance groups at the county and district levels.
He outlined to the media the importance of accurate health reporting and understanding terminologies like confirmed and suspected cases in reporting on the disease.
"And that is why health reporting, public health reporting, medical technology reporting, will be very important for those of you who come or who follow the NPHIL, who follow the Ministry of Health, who follow the Environmental Protection Agency, the Forestry Development Authority, because we are all interagency collaborators, those who follow the WHO, for example, will understand these terminologies.
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He continued by saying, "There's a difference between a confirmed case and a suspected case. So when you talk about a case, that's a case, then you qualify the case as being suspected or gathered out of that case.
He said there will be many other pox diseases that people will hear about.
"There is cowpox, there is chicken pox, there is Monkeypox, there are many, many poxes you will hear about. They are all from the same, more or less family of viruses, he said.
Dr. Nyan said, "So once you see those symptoms with the temperature, high temperature, body temperature, that's a suspected case. You suspect them with the picture we have and all of that, you suspect that this person could be having some kind of box.
