Monkeypox: Twelve tests done in Ghana so far, 5 cases recorded – GHS

Ghana has recorded five cases of Monkeypox in the Eastern, Western and Greater Accra regions.

This was confirmed by the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, at a press briefing on Wednesday, June 8.

He said “Monkeypox is a disease that is transmitted from animals to man. It is very endemic in Nigeria and Cameroon but it is generally in West Africa. From infected animals, rats, monkeys etc. and then infect humans. Human to human transmission can also occur but there has to be very closed skin to skin contact, face to face contact or mouth to skin contact, these are the areas or that is how it can be transmitted from human to human.

“So far, since the outbreak in Europe we have tested twelve suspected cases in Ghana since 24th of May. Currently, we have confirmed five cases in three regions, Eastern, Western and Greater Accra. No deaths has occurred. One of the cases has been recorded with a Ghanaian who traveled to the United States from Ghana.”

Meanwhile, a Virologist at the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research (KCCR), Dr Michael Owusu, said the monkeypox is not deadly as the coronavirus.

He said it is not likely to cause deaths as seen with Covid.

Speaking on this development on the mid day news on TV3 Wednesday June 8, Dr Michael Owusu said “…What it means is that no country can escape it at the moment, we just have to find strategies to deal with it such that we can contain it and possibly, break the chain of transmission.”

Asked how deadly monkey pox is, he said “well, the mortality rate of monkey pox is not that high as compared to Covid which we were doing close to 10 per cent mortality rate.

“Monkey pox causes discomfort, body weakness, sometimes fever but it is unlikely to cause death. Even if there will be cases of death, you need to have large numbers of it in people who are mostly already weak, they are those who are likely to die.”

He further gave guidelines on how to tackle the outbreak.

Fortunately, he said, the monkey pox is caused by virus just as Covid, hence “application of hand sanitizer is very crucial, even the use of mask and avoiding body contact as much as you can.”

Source: 3news.com|Ghana