Two cases of monkeypox have been found in Osun State.
The cases were found in a place called Ilesa West Local Government Area.
On Monday, the Osun State Commissioner for Health, Jola Akintola, told people in Osogbo about the monkeypox. He said people should not be scared because the government is handling the situation well.
Mr. Akintola said that monkeypox can be stopped if we try hard enough.
He said this during a meeting at the Ministry of Health in Osogbo, where they talked about monkeypox.
Mr. Akintola said, “We handled COVID-19 well and stopped cholera before. Now, we have two cases of monkeypox, and our special team is meeting every Monday to make sure it doesn’t spread.”
In the last 34 weeks, there have been only two cases in Osun, while other states have had many more cases.
“There’s no need to worry. Our team is ready, just like when we stopped cholera, we will stop monkeypox too,” he said.
Dr. Akindele Adekunle, who advises the Governor on Public Health, said the Governor is serious about keeping proactive measures in place.
Dr. Omolola Adeagbo, the State Epidemiologist, talked about the monkeypox situation in Osun.
Dr. Adeagbo said that from Week 1 to Week 34, 47 people were suspected to have monkeypox in 13 different local government areas.
“We sent all 47 samples to the lab, and only two came back positive. Both were boys, one aged 5 and the other aged 25, from Ilesa West,” Dr. Adeagbo explained.
Dr. Adeagbo also said the actions they took included sending a Rapid Response Team (RRT), talking to people in the community, and checking more people for signs of monkeypox in both the community and health facilities.
The confirmed cases were connected to the state hospital in Ilesa West.
Dr. Ojediran Oluwatoyin from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Israel Solomon from UNICEF both said that although there is no vaccine for monkeypox in the country yet, the state should keep informing people and watching closely to stop monkeypox from spreading.
Last week, the state government warned people about monkeypox.
The government advised everyone to be careful and to report any signs of monkeypox to the authorities right away.