Members of the University community have been put on Red Alert against the outbreak of MonkeyPox disease, a communicable infection, which has been noticed in seven states in the country, including Ogun State. Symptoms of the infection are similar to those of Smallpox, but with milder reactions which include fever, headache, muscle aches, chills and exhaustion. The Health Services Office of the University informs that its incubation period is between seven and 14 days while typical rashes develop on the body of infected person within the first three days or more, starting from the face and then spread to other parts of the body.
The infection could be contracted from having direct contact with the blood, body fluids, cutaneous or mucosal lesions of infected animals like monkey, Gambian giant rats, squirrel and rodents, as well as eating inadequately cooked meat of infected animals. Also, secondary human-to-human transmission of the disease could result from close contact with infected respiratory track secretions, skin lesions of an infected person or objects that were recently contaminated by the patient’s fluids or lesion materials. It could also be contracted through physical touch, contact with stool or blood of an infected person. To prevent the disease, members of the University community were advised to avoid contacts with animals that could harbour the virus, including animals that were sick or had been found dead in areas where the disease occured.
Members of the University community were further charged to practice good hand hygiene with, or without contact with infected animals or humans, and avoid contact with any materials such as beddings that had been in contact with a sick animal or person, warning that there was presently no known or proven safe treatment for the virus.