Health Alert In Edo: One Mpox Case And Eight Suspected Cholera Cases Confirmed

The Edo State Government has recorded one outbreak of Mpox in the state as well as eight suspected cases of Cholera.

Dr Ojeifo Stephenson, the state Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, disclosed this to Channels Television on Saturday.

He said the state government had taken proactive measures since January to create awareness and sensitise the public on the need to report to the nearest designated health facilities, once the symptoms develop.

“From January till date, we’ve identified 11 suspected cases in Edo State,” he said. “We got the alert anytime they see any suspected case and we mobilise our team to go in there, collect samples then we do contact tracing.

“Contacts are people that have a direct connection with that suspected case. We always follow them up for the incubation period of that virus, then we can now exit them. After those tests, eight were non-reactive while eight were reactive.”

0-5 Mainly Affected

Meanwhile, children between the ages of 0-5 years old were mostly affected by the Mpox disease outbreak in the country, the Nigerian Centre For Disease Control (NCDC), has said.

Out of the 48 confirmed cases of Mpox recorded this year in Nigeria, the most affected age group is children between 0 -5 years old, according to the agency.

Mpox is said to spread easily through contact with infected persons or contaminated materials.

In an update report on the disease, NCDC said during reporting week 34 (August 19-25), eight new confirmed cases were recorded across five states, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in 2024 to 48.

A further breakdown of the case data showed that 57 new suspected cases were reported in week 34, 2024, compared with 25 cases reported in week 33.

Eight confirmed cases were reported in week 34 compared with one confirmed case reported in week 33, 2024.

Twenty states + FCT have recorded at least one confirmed case across thirty-five Local Government Areas in 2024.