The Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia Dr. Dougbeh Chris Nyan has officially confirmed one case of Monkey-Pox in Liberia contrary to previous media reports.
Addressing a News conference on Monday September 2, 2024, Dr. Nyan told the media that the one confirmed case came in twenty four hours following the testing of samples from the patient.
According to him, the case is active , confirmed , managed and the patient is currently under treatment.
The patient he told reporters is a seven year old female from Jleapo, Sinoe County, In Doweken, a rural district in the South Eastern County.
The patient he stated has no travel history as they are still working around the clock to identify the actual source where she contracted the virus.
The NPHIL boss also disclosed that the mother of the confirmed case is now showing symptoms of the virus and she is now considered a suspected case.
However, he stressed that health workers are already on the field tracing multiple contacts who may have come in contact with the one patient who is now confirmed positive especially beginning with close relatives.
“We are on top of this and there is no need to panic and with additional equipment and materials available, it will help enhance our work”, the NPHIL boss assured the public.
As part of their proactive drive , Dr. Nyan told reporters that they have setup and announced the Incident Management system, the IMS.
The system among other things, he said will help coordinate the response across the Country.
Moreover, he stated that they are working on a means of getting a vaccine both for Monkey-pox and Small Pox respectively.
At the same time, he pointed out that they are working in house to get diagnostic kits as a result of their capacity development while they await support from partners like the World Health Organization, Center for disease control and prevention- Africa and CDC USA among other partners and donors.
Mr. Nyan speaking to the press also termed as untrue and inaccurate previous media reports of confirmed cases of monkey Pox in Liberia not until today’s official confirmation, he reemphasized.
He clarified that prior the Declaration by the World Health Organization about an international health concern relative to Monkey-Pox, Liberia had earlier detected six cases, however, those six cases as of today following the health processes were all declared negative and are now considered suspected cases not confirmed.
Providing some history about the virus, the NPHIL boss said that few cases of Monkey-Pox were detected in Liberia in the 70s.
But, the most recent cases which have affected other Countries have now drawn international attention, he noted.
He named Dr. Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, Nigeria , Ghana and Ivory Coast of recent as Countries with confirmed cases.
According to him, such issue calls for Liberia to play an urgently proactive role and NPHIL he disclosed has been doing such.
“We have our students in Rwanda, we do trade and movement and personal interactions in Nigeria and of recent, one of our neighbors, Ivory Coast, as such, we are playing a very proactive role to help address the situation “, he maintained.
“Initially, We setup up surveillance and response machanism, assets response at the National Port Authority, the RIA and other ports of entries as additional parts of our efforts”, he added.
Moreover and as part of our proactive work, the NPHIL head stated that they are making efforts to send teams at other important border points to include; Bo- Water Side, Springs Field, Ganta to Guinea, Luguato, Toe’s Town, Grand Gedeh, River Gee and Maryland Counties among others.
He reemphasized that the confirmed case was validated by the test done by a laboratory, and the case is isolated.
Dr. Nyan disclosed further that monkey -Pox is manageable and so far from other reports across the globe, there is no death reported thus far.
The recovery period he said is based upon a person immune system while there are multiple means of contracting the virus.
“There are also different strings and we don’t know the original source of this confirmed case string but we are working to have this addressed”, he noted.
At the same time, NPHIL through its boss has also named fever, high body temperature and rashes as some in the -word and out word symptoms of the virus but they must first be tested before official confirmation can be determined because there are also multiples of poxes, including, Chicken Pox and Cowpox among others.
