Monkeypox Pandemic Might Become More Fatal, NCDC Warns

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has warned that the monkeypox skin disease could record a high level of fatality in the country if not dealt with immediately.

This, according to the agency, was because of the absence of vaccines, treatments, and tests in most parts of the world, particularly Africa.

Also, The New York Times newspapers revealed last week that African countries lacked monkeypox vaccines, treatments, and tests.

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Meanwhile, on Sunday, September 18, the Director General, NCDC, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa said;

“The NCDC has testing and genomic sequencing capacity for monkeypox at our National Reference Laboratory (NRL), Abuja. Monkeypox diagnostic capacity is also being rolled out at Central Public Health Laboratory, Lagos, a campus of the NRL, as a first step to increasing access to testing, given a large number of cases in 2022.

There are currently no vaccines available in the country. But official requests have been made to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States for available vaccines (second or third generation).

Monkeypox is a self-limiting disease, which has been primarily managed in Nigeria through supportive treatment; meaning the symptoms are treated in the patients. We have identified a few patient groups at very high risk for severe disease, hospitalisation and death. As a result, NCDC is looking into procuring the only medication licensed for monkeypox treatment, Tecovirimat (TPOXX), for high-risk groups (immunosuppressed patients).”

Adetifa further explained the implications of the absence of vaccines and treatment for monkeypox in Nigeria and indeed Africa.

He said: “NCDC’s priority is to procure a therapeutic option to offer those at high risk of severe symptoms, hospitalisation and death, given its local epidemiology and experience.”