The government of Cross River has discovered two new cases of M-pox in Calabar Municipality, raising the number identified in the council to five.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Health, Dr Ekpo Bassey disclosed this during an interview on Friday in Calabar.
Mpox which is a zoonotic disease is an emerging infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans from infected animals most commonly rodents and can spread from person to person.
The Special Adviser who is also the Incident Manager of the Cross River M-pox Response, said the cases were discovered on Monday October 21, by the state surveillance team and samples sent to National Reference Hospital, Abuja.
According to him, the results were received on Thursday, October 24, confirming the cases and immediately other pillars responded to manage the cases accordingly.
“Right now both cases are stable and we are monitoring them closely. We are also trying to carry out our sensitisation and infection control to prevent the disease from spreading.
“The two new cases were from a boy of about 18 in the University of Calabar (UniCal); the other was a baby around Ikot Ekpo area, although the parents did not have the symptoms. So, we are trying to find out how it happened.
“Before now we have had three cases in Calabar Municipality, we have done contact tracing and we are monitoring all the persons that had contact with the cases,” he said.
He noted that while the cases were being managed, they needed to wait for 21 days because the incubation period of the infection was between 21 to 25 days.
Mr Bassey advised residents to avoid eating of not properly cooked bushmeat, maintain high personal hygiene as well as adhere to enlightenment campaigns by the government to curb the spread of mpox.
Recall that the state government in partnership with the National M-pox Response Team had visited traditional rulers in Calabar to enlighten them and their subjects on the issue of M-pox.
(NAN)
