The current outbreak of monkeypox infections since January has brought up new concerns. Two of these new concerns are that the disease is more prevalent among males (99% of cases with available gender details), and the majority of cases are transmitted by men having sex with men (MSM). The MSM link was reported in 97% of cases with sexual orientation details, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Age-Sex Distribution of Monkeypox Cases
In Nigeria, the disease is also prevalent among males. According to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 71% of all confirmed monkeypox cases in Nigeria were men, though the sexual orientation of the affected males in Nigeria and Africa has not been confirmed. Meanwhile, for all diseases captured by the NCDC, the prevalence among men was just 52%.
Ordinarily, “Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease (i.e. an infection transmitted from animals to humans) that occurs sporadically, primarily in remote villages of Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.
Monkeypox is usually self-limiting, with symptoms lasting between 2 and 3 weeks. Severe cases occur more commonly among children, who also have greater mortality – the case fatality has ranged from 1% to 10%, higher in Congo Basin cases”, according to the NCDC.
The World Health Organisation also warned that, “Although most cases in current outbreaks have presented with mild disease symptoms, monkeypox virus (MPXV) may cause severe disease in certain population groups (young children, pregnant women, immunosuppressed persons)”
The most commonly reported symptom is “any rash” and is reported in 71% of cases with at least one reported symptom. “Any rash refers to one or more rash symptoms (systemic, oral, genital, or unknown location), and “any lymphadenopathy” refers to either general or local lymphadenopathy, the World’s health body clarified.
Reported Symptoms of Monkeypox
However, just as MSM are now linked to high incidence of monkeypox infection and transmission, studies in Nigeria show a similar higher risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases among MSM in Abuja and Lagos. Thus, there may be a need to intervene in the monkeypox spread in Nigeria by concentrating care efforts also on MSM in Nigeria.