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The Association of Resident Doctors at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (ARD-UITH) has cautioned Nigerians against consuming undercooked bushmeat to prevent contracting the deadly Mpox virus.
The ARD-UITH President, Yusuf Muhammed, gave the warning yesterday during an interaction with journalists in Ilorin.
He cautioned people to avoid contact with dead animals as much as possible.
Muhammed explained that Mpox is a zoonotic infection that affects animals and can be transferred to humans.
"The fear is that the human antibody may be unable to protect against it like the previous strain. This poses a significant threat to people, and everybody should be on the lookout," he said.
The ARD-UITH president described monkeypox as a viral disease related to the now-eradicated smallpox virus.
According to him, initial symptoms are typically flu-like, including fever, chills, exhaustion, headache and muscle weakness, often followed by a painful or itchy rash with raised lesions that scab over.
He advised Nigerians not to panic but to report suspected cases to the nearest health agencies where proper investigation and contact tracing could be done.
"The public should not panic but report cases to health agencies for contact tracing and proper investigation so that at-risk individuals can also be quarantined and preventive measures taken," he advised.
He assured Nigerians that the association was fully ready to use all the arsenal, responses, and preparedness deployed during COVID-19 to fight any eventual outbreak in the country.
"ARD from the national body and the UITH is observing the trends, preventive measures, and advice from the scientific community so that we appraise them and contribute our quota to the body of knowledge," he said.
