As the world continues to raise concerns on the high rate of monkeypox spread across Europe and America, the federal government says it has commenced surveillance at all Nigeria ports of entery.
This is even as it assured that currently there is no record of the disease in the country but that the South West is high risk zone as it borders some countries that already recorded outbreak.
Addressing the press on the preparedness of the country to curtail the outbreak of the disease, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Muhammed Abubakar, said: “In view of the current outbreaks in Europe and the Americas, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is working assiduously in collaboration with relevant sectors and stakeholders to intensify surveillance in the animal population and at the point of entry for wildlife as well as creating awareness among hunting communities and the general public on prevention of the disease.
“Monkey pox is a zoonotic infectious disease which was first detected in 1958 in monkeys, rodents are now seen as possible means of transmission of the disease to man and animals. Monkey pox is primarily a disease of non-human primates like chimpanzees.
“It is a self-limiting disease with symptoms of bump rashes in humans which is usually mild and lasts between 2-4 weeks with 3-6% fatality rate.
“The disease is transmitted through close contact with infected person or animal and material contaminated with the virus. The main means of transmission is usually due to spillover from animals, man to man transmission is less common. The disease clinically resembles smallpox,” he said.
According to the minister, officially, no monkey pox has been detected in Nigeria yet but the South-west is a high risk area as it borders.
“We have the field officers in all the states working with the health officers actively and we have started sensitisation of Nigerians on this.”
