The Gombe State government says it has recorded 19 suspected cases of monkeypox, out of which three were confirmed.

Dr Habu Dahiru, Commissioner for Health, stated this in Gombe on Tuesday during a news conference.

He said the three confirmed cases had been treated and discharged.

“We have 19 cases in the state, samples were collected from the suspected cases and three returned positive for monkeypox virus.

“The cases presented were having fever which lasted for more than a week despite treatment for common causes of fever.

“They developed rashes on their face and other parts of their body which prompted the suspicion of monkeypox.

“In the light of the above, I hereby declare the outbreak of monkeypox in Gombe state,” he said.

He said monkeypox was a rare viral zoonotic disease with an incubation period of 5-21 days.

He added that it had two phases of symptoms which included fever, headaches, body pain, body weakness and lymph node swelling .

Other symptoms were body rashes that start from the face and subsequently spread to the other parts of the body including palms and soles of feet.

According to him, the disease can be transmitted from infected animal to human through direct contact or body fluid and waste product of infected animal.

Also, human to human transmission occurs directly through contact with body fluids of infected person or indirectly through contact with surfaces contaminated by a patient.

The commissioner said the government had activated an Incident Management System with full responsibilities for surveillance and effective response aimed at controlling the outbreak. 

(NAN)