The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says out of the 48 confirmed cases of Mpox recorded this year in Nigeria, the most affected age group is children between 0 to 5 years old.
NCDC while disclosing this in a situation report for week 34 (August 25) posted on its website on Friday, said 48 confirmed Mpox cases were recorded out of 868 suspected cases across 35 local government areas in 19 states, and the Federal Capital Territory.
However, there has been no death recorded from the disease so far this year as 57 new suspected cases were reported in Epi week 34, 2024, compared with 25 cases reported in the previous week (Epi week 33).
“Eight confirmed cases were reported in week 34 compared with one (1) confirmed case reported in week 33, 2024.
“Twenty States and the FCT have recorded at least one confirmed case across thirty-five (35) Local Government Areas in 2024,” the report partly read.
The age distribution of the cumulative number of confirmed Mpox cases showed that 17 cases were recorded among ages 0-10, seven cases were recorded among ages 11-20, nine cases were recorded among 21-30, eight cases were recorded among ages 31-40, and seven cases were recorded among ages 41-50.
The cases were recorded in Lagos (one), Rivers (two), Bayelsa (six), Abia (one), Delta (two), Imo (one), Edo (one), FCT (two), Anambra (two), Cross River (five).
Others are Plateau (two), Akwa Ibom (four), Nasarawa (one), Oyo (one), Kaduna (one), Ebonyi (one), Benue (three), Enugu (eight), Osun (two), Kebbi (one), and Zamfara (one).
Mpox is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease (i.e. an infection transmitted from animals to humans) that occurs sporadically, primarily in remote villages of Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests. It is caused by the Mpox virus, which belongs to the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.
The Orthopoxvirus genus also includes the variola virus (the cause of smallpox), the vaccinia virus (used in the smallpox eradication vaccine), and the cowpox virus (used in earlier smallpox vaccines). Following the eradication of smallpox, the Mpox virus has emerged as the most significant Orthopox virus.
On August 13, 2024, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared Mpox a public health emergency of continental security, acting under its mandate to address significant public health threats.
The NCDC also disclosed that the National Mpox multi-sectoral and multi-partner Emergency Operation Centre continues to coordinate the response in the country.
