No panic as Monkey pox can be tackled, we just need to be careful – Virologist

The Monkeypox is caused by virus therefore, the same measures introduced to tackle Covid should be adopted to stop the transmission, a Virologist at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research, Dr Michael Owusu, has said.

He said as much as possible, everybody must, at all times, wear nose mask, use hand sanitizer and also practice social distancing.

Ghana recorded five cases of monkey pox 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.

Speaking on the mid day news on TV3 Wednesday June 8, Dr Michael Owusu said “Application of hand sanitizer is very crucial, even the use of mask and avoiding body contact as much as you can.”

He added “…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.”

On the mortality rate of monkeypox, 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.”

Source: 3news.com|Ghana