- Safiu Kehinde
The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has recorded a decline in case of Mpox over the past four weeks.
This was contained in a statement posted on its official website yesterday.
As against the initial report of 39 confirmed cases and 789 suspected cases, the current report provided as at 11th of August, 2024, disclosed two confirmed cases and 51 suspected cases with zero death.
According to NCDC, Mpox is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease (i.e., disease of animals transmitted from animals to humans) that is endemic in several African countries including the tropical rainforests of Central and West Africa.
The exact reservoir of the virus is still unknown although rodents, squirrels and monkeys are suspected to play a part in transmission.
The Mpox virus can spread both from animal to human and from human to human.
Animal-to-human transmission may occur by direct contact with the blood, body fluids, skin or mucosal lesions of infected animals (e.g., monkeys, squirrels, and rodents).
This can happen through a bite, scratch, handling of, or eating inadequately cooked or other products of infected bushmeat.
Human-to-human (person-to-person) transmission occurs when a person comes into contact with the virus from an infected human, or materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing and beddings.