3 cases of monkey pox reported in Burundi

Burundian health authorities on Friday reported three cases of monkey pox in three of their health facilities.

“On July 22, 2024, three new alerts of suspected monkey pox virus cases were reported to the health ministry,” said Lydwine Baradahana, minister of public health and fight against AIDS, in a press release issued in Bujumbura, the economic hub of Burundi.

“They are clinically characterised by a fever, joint pains, and generalised skin eruptions,” she said, adding that a multidisciplinary team made up of the urgency operations centre from the health ministry.

“The National Reference Laboratory and the World Health Organisation was deployed to the ground to conduct investigations and do the necessary screening.

“After laboratory analyses, the three samples turned positive for the monkey pox virus,” said Baradahana.

Monkey pox is a viral disease that affects both humans and animals, symptoms include an unexplained acute rash and back pain, swollen lymph nodes, acute onset of fever, headache, muscle and body aches, and low energy.

“The disease is highly contagious and causes death if it is not treated quickly.

“That’s why we recommend hygiene measures like hand washing and avoiding contact with people having symptoms of the monkey pox virus,” said Baradahana.

She reassured the population that adequate measures have been taken, noting that the three cases were under treatment in health facilities and that contact cases are being closely monitored.

On July 16, a child with similar symptoms to monkey pox died at a health facility in Mugamba, in Burundi’s southern province of Bururi.

The deadly disease has been reported in neighboring eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.