Cross River govt confirms one case of Mpox

The Cross River State Government has confirmed one case of Mpox in the Okoshe community in the Obudu Local Government Area.

The confirmation is coming a few days after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported a case in the state.

The Mpox case was initially denied by the State Commissioner for Health, Henry Ayuk.

However, Mr Ayuk, while addressing reporters in Calabar on Sunday, said the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja confirmed the presence of Mpox in one patient in Obudu.

He explained that an Ebonyi epidemiologist alerted the Ministry of Health to a possible case of Mpox or chickenpox on 19 August.

“The patient, a female resident of Okoshe village in Obudu, sought medical care at the Federal Medical Centre in Abakaliki.

“Her test sample was sent to the National Reference Laboratory, and the result, which returned on Saturday, 24 August, confirmed Mpox and ruled out chickenpox,” Mr Ayuk said.

The commissioner said the state government was working to prevent a possible outbreak in the area.

“While we are still investigating the patient’s travel history, the state government is taking immediate action to contain any possible spread in Obudu,” he assured.

The commissioner said the ministry had ordered the immediate activation of the Mpox Emergency Operation Centre to strengthen the response.

He said Ekpo Ekpo, Governor Bassey Otu’s special adviser on health, has been appointed incident manager.

He also directed the Obudu Local Government Area response team to collaborate with the state health team to mitigate efforts immediately.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Cross River appealed to the state government to enhance surveillance measures, citing the state’s vulnerability to such an outbreak.

NAN reports that the NCDC on Friday announced that the country has recorded a total of 40 confirmed cases of mpox out of 830 suspected cases.

The NCDC Director-General, Jide Idris, announced this at the Joint NCDC/WHO National Mpox briefing with stakeholders and partners in Abuja.

The WHO Nigeria Country Office disclosed that Nigeria would be receiving doses of the mpox vaccine through a donation from the United States Government.

Mr Idris noted that an Emergency Operations Centre and an Incident Management System have been established since MPOX was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

The NCDC said the cases were recorded in Bayelsa, Cross River, Ogun, Lagos, Ondo, and Ebonyi states.

The centre said some states, including Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Kano, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, and Taraba, have also been put on high alert.

The centre said the National Mpox Technical Working Group is coordinating Mpox response activities.

(NAN)