Ekeomah Atuonwu
On Friday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) revealed that 12 African nations had recorded 1,782 cases of monkeypox.
During a weekly briefing, Ahmed Ogwell, interim head of Africa CDC, stated that of the 1,782 cases of monkeypoxreported in Africa, 1,678 were suspected cases and 104 were confirmed cases.
He stated that instances have been recorded in both endemic and non-endemic nations, emphasizing that non-endemic African Union (AU) members reporting confirmed cases of the disease were Benin, Morocco, and South Africa.
Ogwell stated that the Africa CDC was training 20 health professionals from other areas of the continent in Nigeria to assist them establish the ability to create a laboratory diagnosis for monkeypox in their respective countries.
He indicated that clinical laboratory confirmation for the disease had been slow across the continent adding that “the training is very important because it enhances the capacity of our member states to confirm suspected cases.’’
According to the acting director, the Africa CDC’s Institute for Pathogen Genomics is also working on sequencing samples of monkeypox so that it will be able to identify and document any variant that could occur in any AU member.
However, in a recent report, WHO said Ethiopia, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Uganda had reported suspected cases of monkeypox and they had no record of any previous incidence.
