NCDC puts Nigerians on monkeypox red alert

Director-General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Ifedayo Adetifa, says the NCDC has observed an uptick in monkeypox cases in the country.

Speaking Tuesday during a virtual media dialogue on monkeypox , he warned that if the current trajectory continued or was sustained, Nigeria might match or exceed the peak number of cases seen in 2017 when monkeypox re-emerged. 

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The latest situation report on monkeypox obtained by our reporter showed that there were 62 confirmed cases, 204 suspected cases and one death so far from the disease since the beginning of the year.

Adetifa said since January 1, several countries had been affected by an unprecedented outbreak of monkeypox, leading to over 3,000 laboratory-confirmed and one death from the virus as of June 22. 

He said prevailing media perception and misinformation on monkeypox had fuelled false narratives about the virus, adding that the potential risk of discrimination and stigmatisation from this requires urgent social and behavior change intervention. 

Country Representative of the World Health Organisation, Walter Mulombo, said a new vaccine (MVA-BN) against smallpox and monkeypox had been approved, but not yet widely available outside national stockpiles.

Represented by Alexander Chimbaru, Deputy Representative of WHO Nigeria, he said infodemics around monkeypox outbreak needed to be urgently managed to prevent further spread of false and misleading information.