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Monkey pox: Nigerians advised to avoid eating of Monkeys, bushmeat

Published

9 years ago

October 6, 2017

The outbreak of Monkeypox in Bayelsa State has made the Federal Ministry of Health to warn Nigerians to avoid the eating of monkeys, bushmeat and dead animals as doing so could predispose any person from contacting Monkey Pox disease.

The Commissioner of Health, Bayelsa State had few days ago announced the outbreak of the strange disease pointing out that a medical doctor and 10 other persons have been quarantined in Bayelsa as a result of the virus while 49 others were been traced.

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, on Thursday in a statement through the Director, Media and Public Relations in the ministry, Mrs. Boade Akinola, advised Nigerians to stop eating bush for now.

At the moment, the minister added, the disease has no cure or vaccine, eben though he said everything was been done to deal with the matter.

Prof Adewole explained in the statement, “the virus was mild and there was no known treatment and no preventive vaccines, hence the public should be at alert and avoid crowded places as much as possible.

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He advised the public to “avoid eating dead animals, bushmeat and particularly bush monkeys.”

The Minister also disclosed efforts been made to arrest the epidemic from spreading. He added that test samples sent to Senegal at the World Health Organisation (laboratory) was still being awaited.

He, however, called on Nigerians, who had symptoms of fever, back pain and rashes resembling chicken pox, to report to the hospital.

The ministry revealed the symptoms to include headache, fever, back pains and in advanced cases, rashes bigger than those caused by chicken pox.