Date: 2017-10-16

The Kwara State Government has declared that there is no single case of suspected monkey pox disease in the state.

The government, however, said it has put in place all necessary and precautionary measures to prevent the disease from penetrating into the state more so that about seven state of the federation including States like Ekiti that shares boundary with Kwara have suspected and confirmed cases of the disease .

The acting director of public health in the state Ministry of Health , Doctor Oluwatosin Fakayode made this clarification in Ilorin , the state capital while answering questions on a Radio Kwara health programme tagged "The Platform "

Doctor Fakayode said the ministry through its Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers have been put on alert in case of any suspected outbreak of the disease while various enlightenment programmes involving traditional and spiritual leaders have begun in the sensitization of members of the public on the need to cook their food properly before consumption .

The medical practitioner warned that those eating uncooked food are at the risk of having the virus and stressed the need for people to avoid body contact with those that already have the disease or contact with monkeys and other animals.

According to him , some of the basic symptoms of the disease are fever, general weakness of the body, vomiting and after few days, rashes in the entire part of the body and therefore called for immediate medical attention in case of any suspected cases.

He explained that monkey pox is a milder form of Small pox but disclosed that small pox had since been eradicated through vaccines while monkey pox had not yet gotten any specific vaccine or drugs to treat the disease except for good supportive treatment but added that no case of death has been recorded since its outbreak in Bayelsa State.

Answering another question , Doctor FAKAYODE disclosed that about two million long lasting insecticide nets have so far been distributed across the sixteen local government areas of the state since to state government began the distribution exercise .

According to him, the government has achieved about ninety percent of its target and assured that the entire house holds in the state would be covered as the project is ongoing .

Doctor Fakayode expressed surprise that some families rejected the offer and appealed to all those that have been provided the nets to make good use of them stressing that malaria is number one killer disease particularly among under five children and pregnant women .

He disclosed that the state government is working towards having a malaria free kwara and therefore stressed the need for environmental manipulation by keeping a clean environment.