The Gombe State Government has reported 19 suspected cases of monkey pox, out of which three were confirmed.
Dr Habu Dahiru, Commissioner for Health, stated this in Gombe on Tuesday during a news conference. He said the three confirmed cases had been treated and discharged.
“We have 19 cases in the state, samples were collected from the suspected cases and three returned positive for monkey pox virus.
“The cases presented were having fever which lasted for more than a week despite treatment for common causes of fever.
“They developed rashes on the face and other parts of their body which prompted the suspicion of monkey pox.
“In the light of the above, I hereby declare the outbreak of Monkey pox in Gombe state,” he said.
He said monkey pox was a rare viral zoonotic disease with an incubation period of 5-21 days.
He added that it had two phases of symptoms which included fever, headaches, body pain, body weakness and lymph node swelling.
Other symptoms were body rashes that start from the face and subsequently spread to the other parts of the body including the palms and soles of the feet.
According to him, the disease can be transmitted from infected animal to human through direct contact or body fluid and waste product of infected animal.
Also, human-to-human transmission occurs directly through contact with the body fluids of an infected person or indirectly through contact with surfaces contaminated by a patient.
The commissioner said the government had activated an Incident Management System with full responsibilities for surveillance and effective response aimed at controlling outbreaks. (NAN)
