Bayelsa govt investigates cause of monkey pox outbreak

The Bayelsa Government is investigating suspected cases of monkey pox outbreak in its communities, the Commissioner for Health, Professor Ebitimitula Etebu, has said,
Etebu spoke in Yenagoa on Wednesday following reports that some 11 persons, including a medical doctor, had been placed on surveillance in Yenagoa.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that those with the suspected cases had been quarantined at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Okolobiri, Yenagoa Local Government Area.
NAN learnt that the centre was established by Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the epidemiological team of the state Ministry of Health to control the spread of the virus.
NAN also learnt that NCDC and the epidemiological team were tracing 49 persons, who were in contact with persons suspected to have been infected.
Etebu said that samples of the virus had been sent to the World Health Organisation laboratory in Dakar for confirmation.
He described monkeypox as a viral illness caused by a group of viruses that include chickenpox and smallpox.
The commissioner said the first case was noticed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and subsequent outbreaks in West Africa.
He said the virus had the Central African and the West African types but that the West African type was milder and had no records of mortality.
“Recently in Bayelsa, we noticed a suspected outbreak of monkeypox.
‘’It has not been confirmed. We have sent samples to the World Health Organisation reference laboratory in Dakar.
”When that comes out we will be sure that it is confirmed. But from all indications, it points towards it.
”As the name implies, the virus was first seen in monkeys but can also be found in all bush animals, such as rats, squirrels and antelopes.