Wednesday, January 15, 2025 - Sierra Leone has reported its first confirmed case of mpox since the World Health Organization (WHO) raised its highest alert level for the potentially deadly viral disease last year.
According to the National Public Health Agency, the patient
is a 27-year-old man from the rural district of the Western Zone, near the
capital Freetown.
“Health teams are actively tracing and investigating to
identify potentially exposed persons and to prevent further spread,” the agency
announced in a social media post.
The confirmed case was detected on January 10, though health
officials have not specified the variant affecting the patient.
Mpox, caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox,
presents with high fever and skin lesions known as vesicles. The disease was
first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970 and had mainly
been limited to a dozen African countries before spreading more widely in 2022,
including to regions where the virus had not previously circulated. The WHO
declared its highest alert level for the disease in 2024.
In response, Sierra Leonean health authorities have swiftly
activated containment measures. The infected patient has been placed in
isolation while contacts will be monitored for 21 days. Surveillance efforts
have been increased in all areas visited by the patient.
A public awareness campaign has been launched, and health
workers are being equipped with protective gear and trained in prevention
techniques to curb further spread.
Sierra Leone was previously one of the hardest-hit countries
during the Ebola epidemic, which claimed around 4,000 lives, including nearly
seven percent of the nation’s health workers, between 2014 and 2016.
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