Cross River, Lagos lead as Mpox spreads to 63 LGs

A situation report on Mpox, obtained from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), reveals that the disease has spread to 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory, affecting 63 local government areas across the country.

The report indicates that 94 confirmed cases have been recorded from January 1 to October 6, 2024, out of a total of 1,297 suspected cases.

The NCDC also noted that 47 new suspected cases were reported during Epidemiology Week 40 of 2024, compared to 67 suspected cases in Week 39.

Additionally, six confirmed cases were recorded in Week 40, down from the 10 confirmed cases reported in Week 39 of 2024.

“Twenty-five states and the FCT have recorded at least one confirmed case across 63 LGAs in 2024.

“Since September 2017, 5,114 suspected cases have been reported from 36 states and FCT, with 1,180 confirmed cases (23.1 per cent) from 35 states and the FCT with 17 deaths. Males (~70 per cent) are predominantly affected.

“The National Mpox multi-sectoral & multi-partner Emergency Operation Centre continues to
coordinate the response.”

The report clarified that a backlog of 13 cases, including four confirmed cases, was included in the Week 39 figures.

The states with confirmed cases are as follows: Cross River (11); Lagos (10); Plateau (8); Enugu (8); Akwa Ibom (8); Delta (6); Bayelsa (6); FCT (5); Imo (4); Benue (4); Rivers (3); and Abia (3).

Other states include Osun (2); Ogun (2); Edo (2); Anambra (2); Zamfara (1); Oyo (1); Niger (1); Nasarawa (1); Kebbi (1); Katsina (1); Kaduna (1); Gombe (1); Ebonyi (1); and Adamawa (1).

Ogun currently leads in the number of suspected cases with 222, followed by Lagos (153), Bayelsa (125), Cross River (84), Akwa Ibom (65), Ekiti (63), Enugu (59), Osun (56), Ondo (41), Delta (38), Imo (36), Abia (34), Plateau (34), FCT (28), Rivers (27), Anambra (24), and Adamawa (22). Benue has 21 suspected cases.

Other states with suspected cases include Kebbi (19), Edo (17), Oyo (16), Gombe (16), Nasarawa (14), Ebonyi (11), Kaduna (10), Kogi (9), Zamfara (9), Katsina (9), Taraba (8), Kwara (6), Bauchi (6), Kano (5), Jigawa (4), Sokoto (3), Yobe (1), Borno (1), and Niger (1).

In 2024, the age distribution of confirmed cases shows that individuals aged 0-10 recorded 24 cases, ages 11-20 had 15 cases, ages 21-30 had 25 cases, ages 31-40 had 14 cases, ages 41-50 had 12 cases, and individuals aged 50 and above recorded four cases.