As of Friday, Nigeria has confirmed 40 cases of Mpox, a viral disease recently declared a public emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Like global health institutions, Nigerian health authorities have reintroduced relevant measures to curb the spread of the virus and provide assistance to those already infected. One of these measures was the reintroduction of health declaration forms at airports for people returning to or visiting the country.
The Nigerian government has also stepped up border surveillance, distributing diagnostic protocols to port health services and putting people on heightened alert at international airports, seaports and land borders.
Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare Muhammad Pate said these efforts were in response to the rapid spread of the disease in African countries where an outbreak has been declared.
Mr Pate said Nigeria intends to tackle the disease by implementing measures similar to those used during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the disease is less deadly and contagious compared to COVID-19.
He said these measures will be introduced along with the activation of infectious disease centres in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Article page with promotion of financial support
Confirmed cases of the disease have been recorded in 19 states, including the FCT, in Nigeria since the first month of the year.
Five states are currently leading the infection chart. Bayelsa tops the chart with five confirmed cases. Cross River, Enugu and Akwa Ibom have four cases each, and Benue has three cases. As for suspected cases, Ogun tops the chart with 141 suspected cases, Lagos has 99 cases, Bayelsa has 94 cases, Ekiti has 47 and is followed by Osun which has recorded 45 suspected cases this year.
The number of cases in Nigeria is low compared to countries in the Central African region, where thousands of cases have been recorded and hundreds of people have died from the disease. However, this does not eliminate the risk of Mpox in the country.
What is Mpox?
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease related to the eradicated smallpox virus. It has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades since it was first detected in humans in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970.
For years, Mpox was predominantly detected in Central and West Africa. Clade I cases were concentrated in Central Africa, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while clade II cases were detected mainly in Nigeria.
It is a contagious and fatal disease that is transmitted from animals to humans through direct contact with the blood and body fluids of infected animals, such as monkeys.
Person-to-person transmission is also possible through close contact, such as touching, kissing, or sexual intercourse, as well as through contaminated materials, such as bed sheets, clothing, and needles.
Recent outbreak
The recent Mpox outbreak has been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since November 2023, but has recently spread rapidly to several other African countries, including Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.
The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has recorded 3,641 confirmed cases with 622 deaths in 13 African countries this year.
The public health agency also said that 19,222 suspected cases have been reported so far.
Sweden has also recorded a clade I case, making it the first case of Mpox outside Africa.
Africa CDC Director Jean Kaseya recently warned of the rapid spread of the virus.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus also expressed deep concern, saying the possibility of further international spread was “very worrying.”
Both organizations have also systematically released funds to support country responses.
The Africa CDC said it had provided the African Union with $10.4 million in emergency funding for its Mpox response, while the WHO has released $1.45 million from its contingency fund for emergencies.
In 2022, a milder strain of the virus spread to more than 100 countries, mainly through sexual transmission.
This led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency. Ten months later, the WHO announced the end of the emergency and claimed that the disease was under control.
What's different about this outbreak?
There are two main types of Mpox: Clade I and Clade II.
Clade II was responsible for a global outbreak that was declared a global health emergency from July 2022 to May 2023. However, this new outbreak is caused by the “more lethal” clade II Mpox virus. In addition, a new clade I virus variant, clade 1b, was discovered in the Congo in September 2023.
According to the WHO, clade Ib is a more lethal strain of the virus. It is highly contagious and has spread to at least five other African countries that were not affected by the latest outbreak.
Why is this more dangerous?
Experts say the mutations gave rise to clade Ib, which has since spread rapidly. Scientists have called this new variant “the most dangerous yet.”
According to different studies, clade I has a higher mortality rate, from 1 to 10 percent, compared to clade II, which is usually less than one percent.
UNICEF Nigeria's Chief of Public Health Eduardo Celades told Newslodgethat compared to clade I and II, the new variant, clade Ib, is considered more deadly and more contagious, and is spreading rapidly across African countries.
He said the rapid spread prompted both the WHO and the African CDC to raise the alarm and declare the outbreak a health emergency requiring urgent attention.
Experts have noted that the current outbreak is the largest clade I outbreak to date, with an estimated mortality rate of around 4 percent, consistent with previous reports for this strain.
The WHO Director-General also said: “We are not dealing with one outbreak of one clade; we are dealing with multiple outbreaks of different clades in different countries with different modes of transmission and different levels of risk.”
Vaccines
There are two key vaccines, one made by Denmark's Bavarian Nordic and Japan's KM Biologics. Bavarian Nordic's vaccine reportedly costs $100 per dose, but the price of KM Biologics' vaccine is not known.
While the MPOX vaccine has been available in 70 countries outside Africa, its arrival on the continent, where thousands of people are infected, has been slow.
Health experts told Reuters the vaccine has been difficult to obtain for many low-income countries due to its high cost. However, the struggle for access has been compounded by a delay in WHO approval for international agencies to procure and distribute the vaccine to poor countries.
This has forced African governments and the Africa CDC to resort to seeking vaccine donations from richer countries.
READ ALSO: Africa CDC develops continental response plan for Mpox
Several WHO officials and scientists told Reuters that the delay in delivering vaccine doses to Africa shows that lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic about global inequalities in healthcare have been slow to bring about change.
They said the WHO did not begin the process necessary to provide poor countries with easy access to large quantities of vaccines through international agencies until this month.
Last Friday, the UN agency revealed that it plans to relax some of its procedures to speed up access to MPOX vaccines for poor countries.
But health officials and experts said this could have started years ago.
According to Helen Rees, a member of the Africa CDC Mpox Emergency Committee, the situation is unacceptable, noting that in Africa's battle to secure vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, the continent is once again being neglected.
However, on Tuesday, the CDC's Director General for Africa said the agency expects to receive a total of 380,000 vaccine doses through donations from some of its international partners.
Nigeria has also received 10,000 vaccine doses from the United States.
Preventive measures
Good hygiene is essential to prevent the spread of the Mpox virus. Experts recommend washing your hands regularly with soap or alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
It is also best to avoid sharing items such as towels, bedding, clothing or utensils with others and to regularly clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces such as doorknobs, countertops and telephones.
Also, avoid unsafe sexual practices.
While reported cases of the disease are significantly low in Nigeria, UNICEF's Eduardo Celades urged citizens to learn to identify the main symptoms of the virus.
Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, chills, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and sore throat. A rash usually appears one to five days after the first symptoms. It usually starts on the face and then spreads to other parts of the body, including the genitals and anus.
Mr Celades said recognising symptoms will help people identify when they might be infected, allowing them to seek medical attention early and prevent further transmission to others.
The WHO also suggested that uninfected people should avoid close contact with people suspected or diagnosed with the disease, while infected or recovering people should self-isolate.