A suspected case of monkey pox has caused hysteria in Jos, capital city of Plateau State on Tuesday.
The agitation became heightened due to the ongoing strike by five industrial unions in the health sector, under the aegis of the Joint Health Sector Unions.
However, the Commissioner of Health, Dr. Kamshak Kuden, said it was just a suspected case, and that blood sample of the patient suspected to be infected with the monkey pox virus, has been sent to the laboratory in Abuja.
Kuden said, “We just had a suspected case of monkey pox at Bingham University Teaching Hospital, otherwise known as Evangel in the past. We have not yet confirmed it, so we sent the blood sample to Abuja. We are waiting for the result; that is what I will tell you. The patient is responding to treatment, the patient actually stays in Port Harcourt, but he is an indigene of Plateau State from Shendam Local Government Area.
“The patient took ill while in Port Harcourt and came to Shendam. They started managing him in Shendam, but he was referred to Bingham University Teaching Hospital because of the general strike by other health workers. That is the only thing I will tell you.”
Kuden further advised primary and secondary healthcare workers to transfer any suspected case of monkey pox, which they cannot manage to tertiary health institutions in the state.
Monkey pox is a rare a viral zoonotic disease that come about primarily in remote parts of Central and West Africa and its symptoms are quite similar to that of small pox.
