According to World Health Organisation (WHO), monkey-pox is a rare disease that occurs primarily in remote parts of Central and West Africa, near tropical rain-forests.
The monkey-pox virus can cause a fatal illness in humans and, although it is similar to human smallpox which has been eradicated, it is much milder.
The monkey-pox virus is transmitted to people from various wild animals but has limited secondary spread through human-to-human transmission.There is no treatment or vaccine available although prior smallpox vaccination was highly effective in preventing monkey-pox as well.
Lately, there has been the outbreak of monkey-pox in Nigeria, still limited to some states.
It’s healthy Tuesday on #YourView, and the ladies discussed with a public health expert, Dr. Tuyi Mebawondu on the causes and ways to curb monkey-pox in Nigeria.
He asserted that the cause is human exposure to the animal habitat and other things.
“It’s an epidermic, epidemics will continue because human settlement has expanded, we are now moving into the bush. It’s spread by domestic animals and wild animals to human beings, then human to human. Also, it’s difficult to get proper food where there is poverty; you can hardly get protein. There is also a pointer to food insecurity.”
He also mentioned how the health system in Nigeria is weak and how the money for research is much which has debarred some actions to be taken.
“We have a weak health system, you can barely get quality care in our institution. The cost of epidermic is much, we spent so much on Ebola. We need research but the cost of research is high too.We must be able to spot and stop even at the level of animals”
He advised on the things we can do to avoid small pox and to avoid the spread of it.
“Stay away from bush meats or contact with animals. Also, we should educate, sensitize and communicate with people as local as we can so they understand things.Research is necessary, we have to unlearn, relearn and learn. Above all, take charge of your health.”
