• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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US confirms case of monkeypox in traveller from Nigeria

Monkeypox

The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed a case of monkeypox in a resident who recently returned from Nigeria.

The case is managed at a hospital in Dallas has raised public concern over community spread.

Laurie Garret, an American science journalist in a series of tweets said the CDC has embarked on contract tracing of airline passengers from two flights including Lagos to Atlanta on July 8 and Atlanta to Dallas, July 9.

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“Because passengers were required to wear masks, due to COVID-19, the CDC thinks the spread of the virus is unlikely,” Garret tweeted.

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. It’s an infection transmitted from animals to humans.

In 2017 Nigeria experienced the largest documented outbreak, 40 years after the last confirmed case.

Read Also: UNICEF, Akwa Ibom state calls for more awareness on Monkeypox

Monkeypox was carried to Israel in September 2018, to the United Kingdom in September 2018 and December 2019 and to Singapore in May 2019 by travellers from Nigeria who fell ill with monkeypox after arrival, World Health Organisation fact sheet shows.

Infection of index cases results from direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or cutaneous or mucosal lesions of infected animals.

Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research.