SAN FRANCISCO, October 10, (THEWILL) – The Ogun State government has declared that there is no case of monkey pox in the state and described as shocking a report credited to Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC), listing the state as one of the states affected by the disease.
This was disclosed by the state Commissioner for Health, Babatunde Ipaye, who told journalists on Tuesday in Abeokuta there is no case of monkey pox in the state and blamed the report on overzealous officials of the state who informed the Federal Ministry of Health when the suspected case has not been properly examined.
The Commissioner revealed that the particular officer from the state hospital in Ijebu Ode only noticed a skin lesion on a patient at the hospital and reported the case to NCDC explaining that the appearance of rashes on the patient was not suggestive of monkey pox, adding that no due process was followed before the case was reported.
“It was very surprising as the state commissioner for health and the chief epidemiologist of the state to hear that Ogun State was listed among states with cases of monkey pox. We have not recorded any confirmed case of monkey pox in the state, Ogun State doesn’t have a single case,” Ipaye said.
“Yes, there was an overzealous officer of the ministry who saw somebody with skin lesion in state hospital, Ijebu Ode and unfortunately called the Federal Ministry of Health and incidented suspected case.
“Any patient in the category of that patient that was incidented cannot be considered as a suspected case because the patient has another primary problem that can give rise to skin lesion, that is not a suspected case.
“Further questioning was even very revealing that the skin lesion the patient had was not even pathognomonic of monkey pox, it was not suggestive of monkey pox but more of another skin lesion and the screening negates the entire report itself.
“We are not averse to reporting one, if there is a case. We are not willing to cover up a case but we must also not send people panicking for things that we do not have.”
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