M-Pox cases have increased, with Cross River and Lagos being among the most affected area

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, has said M-Pox has spread to 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory across 63 local government areas in the country.

NCDC said 94 confirmed cases have been reported out of the 1,297 suspected cases recorded so far from January 1 to October 6, 2024.

The agency noted that 47 new suspected cases were reported in Epidemiology week 40, 2024, compared with 67 cases reported in week 39.

It, however, explained that six confirmed cases were reported in week 40 compared with 10 confirmed cases reported in week 39, 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 percent) from 35 states and the FCT with 17 deaths. Males (~70 percent) are predominantly affected.

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

According to the agency, week 39 had a backlog of 13 reported cases (four confirmed cases).

The states with confirmed cases are Cross-River (11); Lagos (10); Plateau (eight); Enugu (eight); Akwa-Ibom (eight); Delta (six); Bayelsa (six); FCT (five); Imo (four); Benue (four); Rivers (three); Abia (three).

Others are Osun (two); Ogun (two); Edo (two); Anambra (two); Zamfara (one); Oyo (one); Niger (one); Nasarawa (one); Kebbi (one); Katsina (one); Kaduna (one); Gombe (one); Ebonyi (one); and Adamawa (one).

Meanwhile, Ogun leads with 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); Adamawa (22); Benue (21).

Other states with suspected cases are Kebbi (19); Edo (17); Oyo (16); Gombe (16); Nasarawa (14); Ebonyi (11); Kaduna (10); Kogi (nine); Zamfara (nine); Katsina (nine); Taraba (eight); Kwara (six); Bauchi (six); Kano (five); Jigawa (four); Sokoto (three); Yobe (one); Borno (one); and Niger (one).

The age distribution of cumulative number of confirmed cases in 2024 showed that ages 0-10 recorded 24 cases; ages 11-20 recorded 15 cases; ages 21-30 recorded 25; ages 31-40 recorded 14 cases; ages 41-50 recorded 12 cases; ages 50 and above recorded four cases.