The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, NCDC has reported a significant increase in Mpox cases, with eight new confirmed cases emerging in the last week. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 48, out of 868 suspected cases, across 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The outbreak has spread to 35 Local Government Areas, with at least 19 states and the FCT recording one confirmed case each. A notable surge was observed in week 34, with eight confirmed cases reported, compared to just one case in week 33.
Fortunately, no deaths have been recorded from the outbreak so far, according to the Mpox situation report published on the NCDC’s website on Friday. The agency continues to monitor the situation and provide updates on the outbreak.
NCDC records showed that Lagos recorded (one), Rivers (two), Bayelsa (six), Abia (one), Delta (two), Imo (one), Edo (one), FCT (two), Anambra (two), Cross River (five) cases.
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).
The report clarified that “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”.
According to the agency, the age distribution of the cumulative number of confirmed 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.
However, during the week, Nigeria received 10,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine as a donation from the United States government as part of efforts to combat the disease outbreak in the country.
The vaccine, which is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention of smallpox and Mpox in adults at risk, was officially handed over to the Nigerian government in a ceremony held in Abuja on Tuesday.
During the same period, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) also reinforced its declaration of Mpox a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS) after a 160% increase in cases this year.
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.
