Medical Doctor, 10 Others Quarantined As Monkeypox Hits Bayelsa …Govt Assures Residents Of Safety

Fear has gripped the residents of Bayelsa State as a deadly viral epidemic ‘monkeypox’ ravages communities in the state.
It was authoritatively learnt that a medical doctor and 10 persons who came down with the virus had been quarantined in an isolation centre at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state.
The isolation centre was reportedly created by the National Centre for Disease Control and the epidemiological team of the state’s Ministry of Health to control the spread of the virus.
The Tide learnt that the NCDC and the epidemiological team were said to be tracking 49 other persons who were said to have come in contact with persons who were already infected.
The state Commissioner for Health, Prof. Ebitimitula Etebu, who confirmed the development while speaking in a radio programme in Port Harcourt, said that samples of the virus had been sent to the World Health Organisation (wHO) laboratory in Dakar, Senegal, for confirmation.
Etebu described ‘monkeypox’ as a viral illness caused by a group of viruses that include chickenpox and smallpox, adding that the first case was noticed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with subsequent outbreaks in some West African nations.
The commissioner explained that the virus has the Central African and the West African types, saying that the West African type was milder, with no records of mortality.
According to him, “Recently in Bayelsa State, we noticed a suspected outbreak of ‘monkeypox’. It has not been confirmed. We have sent samples to the World Health Organisation’s reference laboratory in Dakar, Senegal. When that comes out, we will be sure that it is confirmed. But from all indications, it points towards it.
“As the name implies, the virus was first seen in monkey, but can also be found in all bush animals such as rats, squirrels and antelopes.
“The source is usually all animals. It was first seen in monkeys and that is why it is called ‘monkeypox’. But every bush animal such as rats, squirrels, and antelopes are involved’’, he said.
The commissioner, however, listed the symptoms of ‘monkeypox’ as severe headache, fever, back pains, noting that most worrisome of all the signs were rashes bigger than those caused by chickenpox.
The commissioner said the rashes were usually frightening and spreads to the entire body of infected persons.
Speaking on the Bayelsa case, Etebu stated, “We noticed the first index case from Agbura, where somebody was purported to have killed and eaten a monkey, and after that, the people who are neighbours and families started developing the rashes.
“We have seen cases from as far as Biseni. We invited the NCDC together with our own epidemiological team from the Bayelsa Ministry of Health.
“We have been able to trace most of the people who have come in contact with the patients.
“So far, we have 10 patients, and we have created an isolation centre at the NDUTH, and most of them are on admission. We are following up the 49 cases that we are suspecting might come down with the illness.
“As a state, we are taking care of all the expenses of all the isolated cases.
“The disease has an incubation period, and it is also self-limiting in the sense that within two to four weeks, you get healed and it confers you with immunity for life.