THE Nigerian Centre For Disease Control (NCDC) has said children between ages zero to five are mostly affected by the mpox disease outbreak in the country.
The Centre stated this in a statement on Friday, August 30.
According to the NCDC, out of the 48 confirmed cases of mpox recorded in Nigeria in 2024, the most affected age group is children between 0 -5 years old.
Mpox spreads easily through contact with infected persons or contaminated materials.
Giving an update on the disease, the NCDC reported that during week 34 (August 19-25), eight new confirmed cases were recorded across five states, bringing the total number of confirmed cases this year to 48.
A further breakdown of the data revealed that 57 new suspected cases were reported in week 34, 2024, compared to 25 cases in week 33.
The eight confirmed cases recorded showed an increase from the single confirmed case in week 33, 2024.
So far in 2024, at least one confirmed case has been reported in twenty states plus the Federal Capital Territory, spanning 35 Local Government Areas.
Since September 2017, 4,685 suspected cases have been reported across 36 states and the FCT, with 1,134 confirmed cases from 35 states and the FCT, resulting in 17 deaths. Males account for approximately 70 per cent of the cases.
Symptoms of the disease usually include an acute illness with fever >38.3°C, intense headache, lymphadenopathy, back pain, myalgia, and intense asthenia, followed by a progressively developing rash often beginning on the face and then spreading elsewhere on the body and soles of feet and palms of the hand.
On August 13, 2024, the NCDC declared mpox a public health emergency, acting under its mandate to address significant public health threats.
The NCDC noted that the national mpox multi-sectoral and multi-partner emergency operation centre continued to coordinate the response in the country.
Meanwhile, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency has set October 8, 2024, as a tentative date to commence vaccination for mpox.
On August 27, The ICIR reported that the United States Government donated 10,000 doses mpox vaccine to the country.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.