The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced a decrease in both suspected and confirmed Mpox cases across the country over the last four weeks. The NCDC disclosed this through a statement posted on its website on Monday. In its latest data, the Centre said 51 new suspected cases were reported between Epidemiological (Epi) weeks 29 to 32 of 2024.
According to the NCDC, there was a significant drop from the 102 cases reported during the previous four weeks (Epi Weeks 25–28), adding that these cases were recorded across 26 local government areas in 18 states. The agency said that out of the new suspected cases, two were confirmed positive, with one case each reported in Ebonyi and Enugu. It added that this also marked a decrease from the seven confirmed cases recorded prior to the period.
“The following outlined case definitions for suspected mpox case are an acute illness with fever 38.3°C, intense headache, lymphadenopathy, back pain, and myalgia. “Intense asthenia follows one to three days later by a progressively developing rash often beginning on the face and spreading to other parts of the body,” it said.
NCDC described a probable case as a case that meets the clinical case definition, not laboratory-confirmed but has an epidemiological link to a confirmed case. “A confirmed case is a clinically compatible case that is laboratory-confirmed. Contact is any person who has been in direct or indirect contact with a confirmed case since the onset of sy.