Lagos State Government, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) at the weekend began a surveillance tour of livestock and bush meat markets across the state to test animals for components of Monkey Pox.
He said Monkey Pox disease is a trans- boundary viral disease common among people that have had contact with wild animals, and which typically presents clinically with fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes.
“Small pox is also a viral zoonotic disease caused by the Monkey Pox virus and it occurs primarily in tropical rainforest areas of Central and West Africa and is mostly transmitted to people from wild animals such as rodents and primates, although human to human transmission also occurs, usually by contact with an infected person’s body fluid, lesions, respiratory droplets as well as contaminated materials such as beddings,” Lawal said.
The commissioner reiterated the commitment of the state government to ensure the safety of lives of Lagosians, hence it would do all needed to be done to prevent the emergence of the disease in the state.
Lawal added that relevant organs and tissue samples would be collected from “these animals under strict biosafety standard protocols, which will then be appropriately stored at the required temperature before being transported to the laboratory for diagnostic testing.”
He noted that the animal component surveillance teams, while testing the animals for the presence of the Monkey Pox virus, would also test for other zoonotic viruses such as the Lassa virus in small mammals and would as well provide epidemiology guidance.
Lawal appreciated members of the One Health team of the NCDC, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and AFENET for their efforts geared towards putting a stop to the outbreak of the disease in the state.
He urged the people not to panic but, however, called for precautionary measures such as maintaining a high level of hygiene and reporting any suspected case of Monkey Pox to the appropriate authorities.
