Gombe confirms 3 cases of monkeypox

The Gombe State government has confirmed three cases of monkeypox out of 19 suspected cases reported to the state’s Ministry of Health.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, disclosed this to newsmen Tuesday.

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 He said, “The three cases presented to us were having fever, which lasted for more than a week despite treatment for common causes of fever. They also developed rashes on faces and other parts of their body, which prompted the suspicion of monkeypox.

“In the light of the above scenarios, I hereby declare the outbreak of monkeypox in Gombe State.”

Dahiru said all the three confirmed positive cases had since been treated and discharged from the hospital.

He said the ministry had activated an Incident Management System (IMS) with full responsibilities for surveillance and effective response aimed at controlling the outbreak.

He listed the symptoms as fever, headache, body pain, weakness, lymph node swelling as well as body rashes that start from the face and subsequently spread to other parts of the body, including the palms and soles of the feet.

“The disease can be transmitted from infected animals to human beings through direct contact or body fluid and waste product of infected animal.

“Also, human to human transmission occurs directly through contact with body fluids of an infected person or indirectly through contact with surfaces contaminated by a patient,” he added.