Rivers State has reported two cases of Mpox, according to Dr. Adaeze Oreh, the State Commissioner for Health, who made the announcement in Port Harcourt.
While confirming the cases, Dr. Oreh reassured the public that the Ministry of Health has taken necessary precautions and activated the State Public Health Emergency Operations Centre to respond promptly to any developments.
She said, “The National Centre for Disease Control, the World Health Declaration of mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern stated that there are about 39 confirmed cases of mpox across the country.
“The NCDC went as far as sending out a brief on mpox nationally and Rivers State was mentioned as one of the cases.
“Not among the top five states, but a state (Rivers) that has two confirmed cases of mpox.”
The health commissioner stated that mpox is a “viral disease and the infected patient can present various symptoms like fever, general weakness and back pain.
“For some people, who may contract it, their body’s immune system may clear it. But some other people may end up with severe symptoms, especially those people who are immune compromised.”
She, however, noted medical teams had been deployed to respond to all emergencies at the healthcare level, General Hospitals and the Specialist Hospitals.
Oreh highlighted, “We now have an incident plan for mpox. We are galvanising resources to find all the incident mpox.
“We have ad-hoc staff who have been engaged and trained to combat this infection, and they can respond to this infection at all levels of our healthcare pillars.”
The Abia State Government reported a single confirmed case of mpox on Monday, according to Commissioner for Information Okey Kanu.
Out of 13 suspected cases, one tested positive, nine were negative, and three are still awaiting confirmation, with no fatalities reported so far.
