According to Vanguard, The ministry of health, Enugu state has urged residents of the state to avoid touching wild animals to curb the viral monkey-pox infection virus. The ministry’s Director of Public Health Services, Dr Okechukwu Ossai, gave the advice when he spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday, on measures taken by the ministry to prevent the disease in the state.
Ossai said the ministry had begun sensitisation in local radio and television stations about the disease, its signs and symptoms. He said that the ministry had also gone ahead to orientate its disease surveillance officers in all the local governments and border areas on the disease.
He said monkey-pox could be contacted through touching the body or body fluid of wild animals, adding that apart from monkeys, antelopes and wild rats could also harbour the virus.
“I will also urge hunters, butchers and those that prepare bush meat from these animals for consumption to be wary. “However, if the meat from these animals mentioned are cooked very well beyond boiling point, the meat is safe as the virus is destroyed via proper boiling.’’
Health experts explain that Monkey-pox, a virus found in monkeys and other wild animals is, however, rare in humans, adding that it belongs to the same family of Chicken-pox and Small-pox
