Gombe Gov’t declares outbreak of Monkeypox

The Gombe State government on Tuesday declared an outbreak of the Monkeypox virus in the state after three suspected cases returned positive.

 The Commissioner of Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, who disclosed this to newsmen, said out of 19 suspected cases reported to the state’s Ministry of Health, three samples were found to be positive.

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“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 the face and other parts of their body which prompted the suspicion of monkeypox,” he said.

He added, “In the light of the above scenarios, I hereby declare the outbreak of Monkeypox in Gombe state.”

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

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

The commissioner stated that monkeypox is a rare viral Zoonotic disease with an incubation period of 5-21 days, which has two phases of symptoms that included fever, headache, body pain and weakness as well as lymph node swelling.

He mentioned other symptoms to includes; body rashes that start from the face and subsequently spread to the other part of the body, including the palms and soles of the feet.

Dahiru said, “The disease can be transmitted from an infected animal 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.”