We’ve recorded 40 mpox cases in 13 states — more laboratories needed for testing, says NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says 40 confirmed mpox cases have been recorded in the country.

Jide Idris, NCDC director-general (DG), spoke in Abuja on Friday at the joint NCDC/World Health Organisation (WHO) mpox briefing with stakeholders and partners.

He said the 40 cases were recorded in about 13 states, with high incidences in the south-south and south-east.

Idris said the NCDC plans to target the states to reduce the number of cases and conduct active surveillance to detect more cases.

“We have 40 confirmed cases out of 830 suspected cases. Fortunately, we have not recorded any deaths, which is remarkable,” he said.

“We have developed an incident action plan to address each area, using various pillars.

“We have met with state governments and state commissioners of health to advise them on establishing their emergency preparedness and response teams, capabilities, and action plans.

“They will coordinate this with their respective local government areas.

“All confirmed cases so far were validated using genomic sequencing in two labs—the National Research Lab in Abuja and Lagos.

“Due to the spread, we need to increase the number of laboratories for testing, including Lagos University Teaching Hospital and the African Centre for Genomics.”

The WHO and the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) declared the outbreak of mpox in parts of Africa a public health emergency.

Hundreds of people have died from the diseases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) while it has spread to other countries.