Nigeria Reports Increase in Confirmed Monkeypox Cases

In recent years, Nigeria has seen a surge in monkeypox cases. The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported a total of 466 suspected monkeypox cases from 30 states between September 2017 and June 2021. 

Monkeypox is a smallpox-like virus that leaves victims with a painful rash and can be fatal if not properly treated. In 2017, Nigeria detected its first monkeypox case in 39 years.

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, and health officials in Dallas, Texas are investigating a case of monkeypox in a traveller who arrived from Nigeria. In a response to the development, the NCDC said that Nigeria had recorded cases of monkeypox in 2021, but noted that an outbreak is only declared when a large cluster of cases constitutes an emergency.

Monkeypox is mostly transmitted to people from wild animals, but human-to-human transmission also occurs. The disease can be contracted if an individual comes in contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets, and contaminated materials of an infected person. 

Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, and a particular pox-like skin rash that develops across the body, including the palms of hands and the soles of feet.