According to the state’s government, 13 people in Bayelsa State have tested positive for monkeypox.
Dr. Jones Stow, the state Ministry of Health’s director of public health, who made this announcement on Thursday, said the confirmed cases were among 50 samples that were sent to the lab for analysis.
He clarified that contaminated surfaces or products made from animals could spread the virus infection to humans.
He claims that the illness results in skin rashes that turn into large blisters and leave scars.
Stow said that in order to stop the spread of the monkeypox illness, the state administration has dispatched medical surveillance teams to conduct aggressive searches.
He stated that the government was also educating the populace about the illness, particularly in the areas where instances were discovered.
Stow said, “In Bayelsa, we have confirmed 13 cases (of monkeypox) from 50 samples sent. We have sent our surveillance teams down to places to do what we call active search, moving from household to household asking to know if somebody in the household comes down with these skin rashes.
“And then to see how we can quickly handle it, and if possible, if the cases are bad we move them to our isolation facility.
“We have also set up a coordinating mechanism we call the Public Health Emergency Centre for Monkeypox where we meet almost on a daily basis to discuss the issues. We’ve started doing a lot of training amongst our healthcare workers, even amongst our surveillance teams.”
The public health expert also emphasized the preventive measures, highlighting such as safe food preparation and handling, fumigation, and the putting up of death traps for rodents—the main disease carriers, he said.
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