Re: Ekpenyong debunks rumours reports of active cases of Monkey Pox in Cross River
The Director-General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Janet Ekpenyong has proved to be false in the reports of active cases of Monkey Pox in the state as reported by some online media platforms recently.
The DG who spoke in a telephone interview opined that, so far, there is no active case of Monkey Pox in any of the 18 Local Government Areas of the state, stressing that, the state government is determined in the detection and management of related cases noting that a well-constituted health awareness and sensitization team, as well as rapid surveillance team, is on the ground to salvage any pandemic outbreak.
The DG exhorted residents in the state not to panic for any reason recounting that the health authority in the state is strongly working on preventive medical approaches while advising residents to comply with the medical advice given to them by the health team.
Her words, “Cross River State has always been a state with proactive approaches to outbreak responses, from the onset, we try to activate immediate search and border control measures as it can be traced as far as the Poliomyelitis control, covid-19, Lassa fever where almost all of our neighbouring states recorded a substantial number of cases and that will continue to be our approach to safeguard our people.
As of today May 16th 2022, there’s no active case of monkeypox in Cross River State, we have tried every avenue to ensure that the state manages every symptom of monkey pox, especially in those Local Government Areas where we have recorded cases in the last few months, we have intensified surveillance as we actively search for people who visit our health facilities with similar symptoms and those reported by their relatives.
We only had two cases in February which were well managed by the state government, we also traced those they had one on one contact with so that we can be assured of a pandemic free state.
Notwithstanding, we won’t relent in our efforts to prevent the spread of the disease since we are aware of how transmittable it can be with a lot of people coming into Cross River from states where there are active cases even in May.
We are working with our partners like the world health organization, UNICEF and others who have always supported us in surveillance activities, and periodic training of our health workers on how to identify and differentiate phenomenal symptoms of these prevalent diseases as we don’t limit our focus to Monkeypox alone.
We are also aware of the purported Cholerae outbreak as predicted in the state, especially this rainy season, we have been relying on our health promotion unit, the social mobilization team, the media and other relevant stakeholders to enhance sensitization so that people will adopt preventive measures and approaches to prevent it.
I urge us to maintain good personal and environmental hygiene to assist Government in Fighting these diseases as I encourage us all to report any suspected cases to the health Facility closest to them for rapid response, investigation and possible management””.
Monkeypox is caused by bites from animals or direct contact with rodents like rats rabbits or contaminated foodstuffs from these animals and it’s easily transmittable from human to human
Early symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, a general feeling of discomfort, and exhaustion.
Later symptoms occur one to three days or more after the appearance of fever and include a rash with raised bumps, often first developing on the face” She stressed.
