The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has advised Nigerians to shun bush meats to avoid contracting Monkeypox.
The Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ifedayo Adetifa, gave the advice while speaking on Channels Tv on Monday morning.
He said the greatest threats to health security are zoonotic illnesses which Monkeypox is among.
In its latest report, NCDC said the country recorded 558 cases and eight deaths from Monkeypox across 32 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) between 2017 and 2022.
Speaking on Monday, Adetifa said, “What happens thereafter if they [pathogens] change in the first few months and become more active in person to person transmission, then we have a problem.
“We are worried about Monkeypox. This is a disease that we don’t yet fully understand, there are no vaccines available at this time and very few actually know established treatment.
“If anything changes about this particular condition, we may have a source of big concern. In general, we should be careful in handling bush meats and the likes.”
He noted that the poor handling of bushmeat is part of the problems we have with Lassa Fever because we are not managing our interactions with rats, more so, we are not storing our food and other things properly to avoid contamination by these animals.
“In the case of Monkeypox, people interact with bush meats and other animals. We know about monkeys and other bushmeats are involved as well and I think all of them should be handled with care,” he said.
