Medical doctor, 10 others quarantined, as Monkeypox hits Bayelsa

Residents of Bayelsa State are now living with fear, as a new viral epidemic known as “monkey pox” has broken out in the State.

A medical doctor and 10 other persons who came down with the monkey pox had been quarantined in an isolation centre created at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH) Okolobiri, Yenagoa local government area of the state.

The isolation centre was reportedly created by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the epidemiological team of the state’s Ministry of Health to stop the spread of the disease.

According to the World Health Organisation, monkeypox is a rare disease that occurs primarily in remote parts of Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.

The World Health body said “The monkeypox virus can cause a fatal illness in humans and, although it is similar to human smallpox which has been eradicated, it is much milder,”

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, Professor Ebitimitula Etebu, confirmed the development, while he said samples of the virus had been sent to the WHO laboratory in Dakar, Senegal, for confirmation.

Etebu described monkeypox as a viral illness caused by a group of viruses that include chicken pox and small pox, noting that the first case was noticed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and subsequent outbreaks in West African region.

He added that the virus has the Central African type and West African types, while the West African type is milder and has no records of mortality.