Maputo, 27 Aug (AIM) – The Mozambican Health Ministry (MISAU) says that none of the seven suspected cases of mpox, across the country, have tested positive for the disease.
According to a statement from the Ministry, from 14 to 26 August, the surveillance system recorded four suspected cases in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, one in the neghbouring province of Niassa, one in the central province of Zambézia, and one in Maputo province in the far south.
This contradicts an earlier statement according to which only one suspected case had been detected.
“All the suspected cases were tested at the National Health Institute Reference Laboratory and the results were negative for mpox. These figures do not confirm the information circulating on social media about the existence of possible cases of mpox in our country”, reads the Ministry’s statement.
The Ministry called on the public in general to adopt measures to prevent the disease, avoiding panic and following the information released by the health authorities through official channels.
“We raised the alert level to increase the sensitivity of the health surveillance system and thus improve the identification of suspected cases of the disease. The symptoms of mpox are similar to those of other diseases. As a result of this high alert, the health surveillance system has been actively identifying individuals suspected of this disease who are immediately tested to confirm or rule out infection”, dreads the statement.
Mpox (formerly known as monkey pox) is an infectious viral disease that can occur in human and other animals. It was initially called monkey pox because it was first identified in laboratory monkeys. The initial symptoms of mpox infection are fever, muscle pains and a sore throat, followed by a painful rash, headache, swollen lymph nodes and fatigue.
The current mpox epidemic began in central Africa in September 2003. As of August 2004, more than 21,000 cases had been reported, the vast majority of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but cases were also reported in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. 500 fatalities had been reported.
In order to fight the disease, the German government will donate 100,000 doses of the Mpox vaccine to the most affected African countries.
“The vaccine doses should be available in the short term from the German army’s reserves. The aim is to support international efforts to contain mpox on the African continent”, said Steffen Hebestreit, spokesperson for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, cited by the Portuguese News Agency, Lusa.
He also said that a mobile laboratory will be set up in the Democratic Republic of Congo as soon as possible.
(AIM)
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