Monkey Pox is a viral infection infection carried by monkeys. It belongs to the pox virus some of which include smallpox, orf and cowpox. There is also the common chickenpox virus.

Monkey pox virus is a zoonotic infection – that is infection transmitted to humans by animals.

Once the virus finds itself into humans, its is then transmitted from one human to another. Though not considered dangerous, its presentation on the affected individual can be misleadingly alarming.

As at the 25th of October, the Federal Government of Nigeria confirmed a total of 9 confirmed cases of monkey pox. The breakdown was 6 fresh cases as follows

one case in Abuja

one case in Enugu

2 cases each from Bayelsa and Cross River States.

These were in addition to the 3 confirmed cases from Bayelsa state.

Furthermore the Hon Minister of State for Health on 25th of October 2017 confirmed a total of 94 suspected cases had been reported from 11 states. There are no deaths from the reported cases so far.

Monkey pox is self limiting and the affected persons usually recover fully. It had been reported that a small percentage may die from the infection.

The picture below sourced from Google (www.medicinenet.com) shows a monkey pox infected child.