The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said Nigeria had recorded a total of 39 confirmed cases of mpox and zero deaths across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory from the beginning of 2024.

The Africa Centre for Disease Control on Tuesday declared a public health emergency over the growing Mpox outbreak on the African continent.

The outbreak has swept through several African countries, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The latest country to record Mpox is Sweden in Europe and Pakistan in South East Asia.

There is a serious and growing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has now expanded outside the country.

A new viral strain, which first emerged in September 2023, has for the first time been detected outside DRC.

So far, about 2,863 confirmed mpox cases and 517 deaths across 13 African countries have been reported in 2024 alone.

“In Nigeria, cumulatively, a total of 39 confirmed cases and zero deaths have been recorded across 33 States + FCT, from the beginning of the year 2024. Bayelsa (five), Cross River (five), Ogun (four), Lagos (four), Ondo (three), and Ebonyi (three) lead the pack.

“Noting the significant concern of the ease of cross-border transmission, this press conference is part of the effort to intensify our coordination and communication with stakeholders to manage the spread of the virus and prevent disease importation,” Idris said.

Mpox is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease (i.e., disease of animals transmitted from animals to humans) that is endemic in several African countries including the tropical rainforests of Central and West Africa. The exact reservoir of the virus is still unknown although rodents, squirrels, and monkeys are suspected to play a part in transmission.

The Mpox virus can spread both from animal to human and from human to human. Animal-to-human transmission may occur by direct contact with the blood, body fluids, skin, or mucosal lesions of infected animals (e.g., monkeys, squirrels, and rodents). This can happen through a bite, scratch, handling of, or eating inadequately cooked or other products of infected bushmeat. Human-to-human (person-to-person) transmission occurs when a person comes into contact with the virus from an infected human, or materials contaminated with the virus such as clothing, or bedding.

Symptoms of the illness include fever, headache, body aches, weakness, swollen lymph nodes (glands), and a rash. After about one to three days of fever, the rash erupts, beginning on the face and then spreading to the body with the face and palms/soles being mostly affected. They can also occur in and around the genitals which is why contact during sex is another mode of transmission.

The NCDC DG noted that the National Mpox Technical Working Group, a multi-sectoral body housed within the NCDC, continues to coordinate Mpox response activities.

“As part of the government’s ongoing efforts, we have intensified surveillance across Nigeria to swiftly detect and respond to any new cases. This puts all port health services across all five international airports, 10 seaports, and 51 land/foot crossing borders on high alert. Diagnostic protocols according to the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response are now distributed to these locations and port health officers are on high alert and screening for suspected cases.

Sweden confirms first case of mpox strain

Swedish officials say they have registered the first case outside Africa of the more dangerous variant of mpox.

Sweden says it has confirmed a first case of mpox clade I, a viral infection that spreads through close contact and is a more dangerous variant of the mpox disease.

The Swedish government made the announcement on Thursday, marking the first case of the variant outside of Africa, adding that more cases are expected in the region in the coming days.

“We have now also during the afternoon had confirmation that we have one case in Sweden of the more grave type of mpox, the one called clade I,” Health and Social Affairs Minister Jakob Forssmed told a news conference on Thursday.

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has spread to other countries.

Neither the US nor Canada have identified any cases thus far. Sweden’s public health agency said in its statement on Thursday that “occasional imported cases like the current one may continue to occur” in coming days and weeks.

Swedish state epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen said in a statement that the person became infected during a trip to “the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox clade I” and that they have “received care” after seeking medical assistance in Stockholm.

“The fact that a patient with mpox is treated in the country does not affect the risk to the general population, a risk that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers very low,” Gisslen added.

The WHO on Wednesday said 548 people have been killed by mpox in the DRC this year, and declared a global public health emergency following the outbreak of mpox in several neighbouring countries.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also declared mpox a public health emergency on the continent on Tuesday.

“On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post on Wednesday.

Mpox virus detected in Pakistan, health authorities say

Pakistan's health ministry has confirmed at least one case of the mpox virus in a patient who had returned from a Gulf country, it said on Friday, though they did not yet know the strain of the virus.

A health ministry spokesperson said the sequencing of the confirmed case was underway, and that it would not be clear which variant of mpox the patient had until the process was complete.

A new form of the virus has triggered global concern because it seems to spread more easily though routine close contact.

A case of the new variant was confirmed on Thursday in Sweden and linked to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent.

However, the World Health Organization has advised against any travel restrictions to stop the spread of mpox.

The health department in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkwa province said on Friday one mpox case had been confirmed in the area, withdrawing a previous statement that three mpox patients had been detected there this week on arrival from the United Arab Emirates.

A health officer in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Mardan district said the location of the confirmed mpox patient, a man the officer said had recently returned from Saudi Arabia, was unknown.

He had initially received tests and advice at a hospital in the provincial capital Peshawar, Dr Javed Iqbal told Reuters, but later returned to his home a few hours away in Mardan and then went to another district.

"When we visited his home in Mardan, it was locked from outside and his neighbours told us that the family has left for Dir," said the DHO Mardan.

"We approached our fellow colleagues of the health department in Dir district, but they couldn’t trace him even in Dir."

The national health ministry said it was carrying out contact tracing of the patient it had identified, who they said was from Mardan. They were also boosting airport surveillance and monitoring with extra health personnel, the ministry said in a statement.

The WHO declared the recent outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern after the new variant of the virus was identified.

Health ministry spokesperson Sajid Shah said so far they had no confirmation of the new variant, but the sequencing of the sample of the confirmed patient was underway.

"Once that's done, we will be able to say what strain is this," said Shah.

Global health officials on Thursday confirmed an infection with a new strain of the mpox virus in Sweden and linked it to a growing outbreak in Africa, the first sign of its spread outside the continent.
 
The WHO on Wednesday sounded its highest level of alert over the outbreak in Africa after cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to nearby countries.

There have been 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, mainly among children, in Congo since the current outbreak began in January 2023.

The disease, caused by the monkeypox virus, leads to flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.

It is usually mild but can kill, with children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV, all at higher risk of complications