A National Youth Service Corp member in Benue State (name withheld ) suspected to be infected with monkey pox have been confined at Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi.
Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Cecilia Ojabo, who disclosed this to newsmen on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 in Makurdi, said the corps member was suspected to have contracted the disease after having sex with a girl from Gboko who was earlier diagnosed positive with monkey pox.
According to her, the corps member, who is posted to do his primary assignment in the place, has also accepted to have had a relationship with the girl.
She said, “When we leant of the case of the monkey pox in Gboko, we swiftly moved and confirmed the lady at BSUTH Infections Unit, and the blood sample from her was sent to Senegal. Few weeks ago the result came back positive.
“The girl told us that she got the disease from a driver who spent a night with her, but when we called him the man denied visiting Benue.
“However, there is another case of a corps member serving in Gboko, who also had an affair with her, both of them are now confined at the teaching hospital and will remain there until we are sure they are properly healed, ” she noted.
She said the third case of monkey pox in the state was reported of a boy schooling in Taraba State who came home at Katsina Ala, with symptoms of the disease, but vanished when a medical team was dispatched to the place to verify his case.
Dr Ojabo said when the parents of the boy with a suspected case were contacted, they also feigned ignorance of their child’s whereabout.
She advised members of the pubic to report any suspected case of the disease in their localities and maintain good hygiene to avoid infections.
By Damian Daga
