ANAMBRA RECORDS 3 CASES OF MONKEY POX DISEASE
REPORTER: UCHE NDEKE
Three suspected cases of monkey pox have been confirmed in Anambra State.
The Commissioner for Health in the state, Dr. Afam Obidike, made this known while interacting with the Anambra State House of Assembly Committee on Health during bilateral discussion on the 2022 revised budget estimate .
According to the Commissioner, the index case was discovered at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi while the two others were detected in other parts of the state.
Dr. Obidike said the state, after handling the outbreak of measles, which claimed fourteen lives recently, the new administration took a step further to establish surveillance units in all its twenty-one local government areas.
He said the step assisted in the identification of the two others cases before the samples were taken to a laboratory in Abuja with the assistance of World Health Organization (WHO).
Dr. Obidike said the state also upgraded its Emergency Response team to make it effective and efficient to be able to respond to any disease outbreak in the area.
The Commissioner for Health, who described the Monkey Pox disease as contagious, advised members of the public to be vigilant and report to any healthcare facility cases of rashes in the body and other relative symptoms for urgent medical attention.
The Commissioner also presented a blue print of what the ministry planned to do in the second quarter of 2022 once the budget is passed.
EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU
