A Medical Virologist and Immunologist at the Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State, Dr. Oladipo Kolawole, has said that monkeypox is more deadly in patients with comorbidity.
According to him, the virus can overwhelm patients with comorbidity and can lead to death.
In 2022, the first death from the disease in Nigeria was reported in a 40-year-old patient who had underlying comorbidity and was on immunosuppressive medications.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent, Kolawole said, “There are different types of comorbidity but anybody that is immunocompromised due to a certain disease condition and now has monkeypox, it could be deadly, it could lead to death.
“The meaning is that the person’s immune system is immunocompromised, he cannot handle such infections. So, the power of the virus will overwhelm the immune system of such an individual which may lead to death.
“Ideally, it’s not the monkeypox but because of the state of the health of such individual. Maybe, the individual has HIV or cancer and is on anti-cancer drugs; because some drugs suppress the immune system, so if such an individual is exposed to the virus and the individual contracts the virus, the immune system may not have the strength to fight the virus.”
Data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control shows that a total of 21 confirmed cases have been reported from 9 states and the FCT – Adamawa (5), Lagos (4), Bayelsa (2), Delta (2), Cross River (2), FCT (2), Kano (2), Imo (1), Rivers (1).
The agency said among the 21 cases reported in 2022 so far, there has been no evidence of any new or unusual transmission of the virus, nor changes in its clinical manifestation documented.
To prevent the monkeypox virus, experts urge members of the public to practice infection prevention and control measures that have proven to limit the spread of the infection.
