Plateau State Records 2 Positive Monkeypox Cases

According to the Plateau government, the state has recorded two positive monkeypox cases in the Shendam and Bassa Local Government areas.

On Thursday, Dr. Nimkong Lar, the Plateau State commissioner for Health, had disclosed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Jos. He stated that the patient from Shendam had been treated and discharged while the patient from Bassa was responding to treatment.

The commissioner said the the ministry has embarked on health education in order to sensitise the populace on the monkey pox outbreak. He explained that the sensitisation was on the importance of imbibing the act of hand washing and maintaining good hygiene as measures of containing the disease.

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Dr. Lar cautioned health workers to ensure they used Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when treating infected persons so as to avoid the spread of the disease.

The commissioner stated that the transmission of the disease is primarily from animal to man, while the secondary source of transmission is through human to human contact.

Dr. Lar then called upon the citizens of Plateau State to report any sign of unexplained rashes to their nearest health facility. He further cautioned the public to ensure that they drank potable water, ate washed fruits and vegetables properly as well as shun the act of open defecation.

He explained that these measures were to avoid the spread of cholera and diarrhoea, which are gastrointestinal diseases. He then called upon the members of the public to immediately report any cases of stooling and vomiting to the nearest health facility.

SOURCE: NAN