The Cross River State Government has commenced sensitisation of residents in border communities of the State on the symptoms and prevention of monkey pox disease.
Director-General of Cross River State Primary Healthcare Agency, Dr Janet Ekpeyong, said this in an interview with newsmen in Calabar.
Ekpenyong said the advocacy was to ensure that all suspected cases were identified and reported for prompt action.
She said the agency had also deployed health officers to the border areas to ensure a seamless awareness and detection process.
“Cross River has always been a state with proactive approaches to outbreak responses.
“From the onset, we try to activate immediate search and border control measures as it can be traced, such as in the poliomyelitis control, Covid-19, and Lassa fever.
“During Covid-19, almost all our neigbouring states recorded substantial number of cases but we were able to manage the pandemic because of our proactive approach to safe guard our people.
“Our health officers are in various border points carrying out sensitisation against monkey pox because we don’t want to record any case in the state.
“As of today, there is no active case of monkey pox in Cross River. We have tried every avenue to ensure that the state managed every symptom of monkey pox,” she said.
Ekpenyong noted that the agency had intensified surveillance by actively searching for people who visited health facilities with similar symptoms and those reported by their relatives.
She said that the agency was working with relevant partners such as the WHO and UNICEF.
The health director said that the partners had always supported them in surveillance activities and periodic training of health workers on how to identify and differentiate phenomenal symptoms of the prevalent diseases.
“We won’t relent on our efforts to prevent the spread of the disease since we are aware of how transmittable it can be with a lot of people coming into Cross River from states where there are active cases,” she said.
According to her, monkey pox is caused by bites from animals or direct contact with rodents such as rats, rabbits or contaminated foodstuffs from the animals and it’s easily transmitted from human to human.
She identified the early symptoms to include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, a general feeling of discomfort and exhaustion.
Ekpenyong urged residents in the state to maintain good personal and environmental hygiene in order to assist the government in fighting the disease.
“I want to also encourage all residents in the state to report any suspected case to the health facility closest to them for rapid response, investigation and possible management,” she said.