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New sacrifices to Monkeypox in Congo

Learn about the latest outbreak of monkeypox in Congo and Nigeria, where several deaths have been reported. Find out why the disease persists in these regions and the steps being taken to combat it. Discover how monkeypox has also emerged in Europe and the United States, causing concern among health officials.

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Despite the fact that at least 20 nations are still dealing with surprise outbreaks not seen in years, nine deaths were reported of monkeypox in Congo in 2022, while Nigeria recorded its first fatality from the disease this year, according to the countries' health officials.

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According to Dr. Aime Alongo, chairman of the Sankuru medical department in Congo, the country has 465 confirmed instances of the sickness, making it one of the worst-affected in West and Central Africa, where the condition is widespread.

According to Dr. Alongo, the disease's persistence in Congo is attributable to the ingestion of deceased monkeys and rats.

"The inhabitants go into the jungle and pick up the bodies of monkeys, bats, and rodents, which are the monkeypox reservoirs," the official continued, advising anyone who have monkeypox symptoms to seek treatment at a health center.

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Meanwhile, Nigeria's diseases control agency reported Sunday that a person with preexisting medical issues died of monkeypox for the first time this year.

The Nigeria Center for Disease and Management said that 21 of 66 suspected prototypes, which is common in Nigeria and other parts of West and Central Africa, were confirmed in 2022.

The Nigeria CDC stated, "The fatality was recorded in a 40-year-old man who had preexisting founder and was on immune suppression."

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Although there hasn't been a monkeypox outbreak in Nigeria since September 2017, isolated cases are still being reported. Since then, at least 247 cases have been recorded in 22 of the 36 states, with a 3.6 percent fatality rate, according to the disease control organization.

A surge of monkeypox confirmed cases in Europe and the United States has alarmed those nations, many of which had not seen a single case in years. According to the World Health Organization, over 250 pathotypes have been documented in more than 20 nations that aren't often associated with outbreaks.

Monkeypox has never caused large-scale epidemics outside of Africa, in which it is prevalent.

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One of the new instances in the UK occurred days after a guy arrived from Nigeria on May 4. Six confirmed instances of the disease have been reported in Nigeria after the British individual departed the country.

Nothing indicates that the British individual caught the disease in Nigeria, according to Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, the country's director of disease control, who told The News Agency that the government is prepared to react to a monkeypox outbreak.

"The greatest obstacle with an illness like monkeypox is that it is rare, and the citizenry's perception of how dangerous this situation is has been very low," Adetifa explained. "That is why... we have performed training courses and activism coaching to raise the level of consciousness of health care workers."

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