By Sola Ogundipe & Chioma Obinna

The management of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH on Monday confirmed the case of monkeypox reported in the hospital as published by Vanguard even as it explained that all necessary measures have been taken in line with global best practices to avert crisis.

Confirming the development in a press statement, the management said there was no cause for alarm as all members of staff involved in the management of the patient have been profiled.

The statement further reads: “The attention of management and staff of Lagos State University Teaching Hospital has been drawn to a newspaper publication on Monday 1st August, 2022 on the above subject matter. It is important that we provide this information to members of the public in order to prevent a possible state of panic in the community and to put the incidence in the right context.

“First and foremost, Monkeypox is a viral disease which had been endemic for decades in Nigeria and some other West African countries until recently when it actually assumed a global dimension.  The first case outside of West Africa was reported in the United Kingdom in May, 2022 in a patient whose travel history was linked to Nigeria.

“Consequently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), giving it a new status of Global Health Emergency Disease. Cases have since been reported in many countries as well as territories in Europe and the rest of the world. There were 22,763 cases globally as at Saturday 30th July, 2022.

“The case under review in LASUTH is one of those that have been seen and reported in Nigeria recently. The patient is a 40year Nigerian male who was involved in a Road Traffic Accident in Magboro area, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Sunday 26th June, 2022. He was seen in our emergency room two hours after the event and admitted. Details of his clinical condition cannot be provided for reason bothering on ethics and professionalism. While on admission, patient was noticed to have certain tell-tale rashes necessitating the activation of our hospital protocol. Patient’s sample was taken and it came out positive for the monkey pox disease. 

“All necessary measures have been taken in line with global best practices. All members of staff who were involved in the management of the patient have been profiled, using evident based guideline and they are all alive and well.

“Members of the public are by this response assured that there is no need to get worried about the report in the newspaper.”