Years after Nigerians had abstained from meat especially bush meat following an outbreak of monkey pox epidemic, the dreaded disease is back again!
They are new reports of fresh outbreak of the deadly virus, which has now spread to 10 states causing fear and anxiety.
In Nigeria, as at October 24th, 93 suspected cases have been reported, 43 confirmed, only one death reported, and that was in Lagos state.
Although 10 states are affected : Lagos, Bayelsa, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom , Rivers , Imo, Enugu and Anambra states with a total number of 93 cases in the country, 59% are from two states: Delta, (28%), and Lagos (26%).
In September, 2017, human monkey pox re-emerged in Nigeria and rampaged till September 16, 2018, 39 years after the last reported case.
Akwa Ibom, its latest destination has reported 18 cases within days in the same local government area where it was reported in the state in 2018.
To prevent contracting the disease, Nigerians are advised to avoid contact with animals that could harbour the virus including sick or dead animals in areas where monkey pox cases had occurred.
And also avoid contact with any material that had been in contact with a sick animal, and to isolate potentially infected animal from other animals.
Other measures to take to prevent contracting the epidemic include quarantining of any animal that might have come in contact with an infected animal by handling them with standard precautions and observing for monkey pox symptoms for 30 days; hand washing with soap and water after contact with infected animals; thoroughly cooking all animal products before eating; and regular hand washing after caring for or visiting sick people.
