Health authorities in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State have detected the first two suspected cases of Mpox (monkeypox) in Aweil town.
The revelation was made by Dr. Riiny Riiny Lual Dau, the state’s health minister, at a press conference at Aweil State Hospital on Tuesday. He said the first suspected case was detected in an 8-year-old boy in Aweil State Hospital on Sunday.
“In Northern Bahr el Ghazal, we have a suspected case of monkeypox which was found in Aweil State Hospital on Sunday morning. An 8-year-old boy came from Apada in Nyalath, Aweil Center County, with rashes and fever,” he said.
The minister said they have reported the case to the World Health Organization and samples have been taken to Juba for further testing.
“We called the lab technicians to take the sample which was booked by WHO to Juba to be confirmed in the main lab,” Dr. Lual stated. “If it is monkeypox, we will inform our community to put in place preventative measures.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Riing Yak Chan, the Director of Preventive Health Services, said another suspected case was detected on Monday at Aweil State Hospital.
“Yesterday (Monday), when we were doing field investigation as a team, we found another suspected case in the hospital, and the sample was taken,” he said. “These samples will be taken to Juba and they will decide to take them to Uganda and we have to wait whether they will be positive or negative for Mpox.”
Dr. Yak however clarified that none of the cases has substantively been confirmed as monkeypox yet and promised to continue monitoring the situation.
According to WHO, Mpox is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus orthopoxvirus. Mpox was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the DRC. It has since been mainly limited to certain West and Central African nations, with people mainly catching it from infected animals, such as when eating bush meat.
The common symptoms include skin rash and mucosal lesions which can take at least 2-4 weeks, accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.