There have been 10 deaths from monkeypox in endemic areas

Follow Medical Xpress, Dr Aime Alongo, head of the Sankuru – Congo health department, said on May 30 that there have been 465 cases. monkey pox confirmed in this country, including 9 deaths.

As such, the Congo will become one of the hardest hit by monkeypox in 2022 in West and Central Africa, where the disease is endemic.

A patient with monkeypox in the Congo – Photo: WHO

Dr Alongo said the disease persists in the Congo due to the consumption of dead monkeys and rodents: “People go into the forest to pick up the carcasses of monkeys, bats and rodents, which are reservoirs of germs. monkeypox” – he explained and urged people with symptoms to go to medical centers for isolation and treatment.

According to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2022 they have identified 66 cases of infection/suspected infection, of which 21 have been confirmed by testing. The newly recorded death is a 40-year-old patient with underlying medical conditions, taking immunosuppressive drugs.

Nigeria has not had an outbreak of monkeypox since September 2017 but continues to report sporadic cases. There have been 247 cases recorded since then in 22 of the 36 states, with a mortality rate of 3.6%.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 300 suspected cases of monkeypox have been reported in more than 20 countries around the world, scattered on all continents. Monkey smallpox has an incubation period of 5-21 days; of which the most common is 6-13 days. The cause of infection is eating undercooked meat of infected animals, contact with body fluids of infected people or animals.

Monkey smallpox has 2 main strains, one strain circulating in the Congo causes severe disease, the mortality rate is 10.6%; While the West African strain has a mortality rate of 3.6%, it is also estimated that it can be less than 1% if medical care is good. The recorded cases worldwide are believed to be infected with strains from West Africa.

Last week, prominent infectious disease expert Professor Isabelle Eckerle from the Geneva Center for Emerging Viral Diseases in Switzerland issued a call for WHO and other countries to take stronger action against the monkeypox wave. endemic areas, avoid being subjective because the disease is mild, there are drugs and vaccines. Some other experts say action needs to be taken “from the ground up” – from the region where monkeypox is endemic, which is West and Central Africa.