A viral disease, monkeypox disease, has broken out in Yenagoa, Bayelsa capital with no fewer than 11 people under medical surveillance at a state hospital. Monkeypox disease is a viral disease that produces pox lesions on the skin and is closely related to smallpox, but is not nearly as deadly as smallpox.

It was learnt that a medical doctor and 10 persons suspected to be infected with the monkeypox virus had been quarantined in an isolation centre at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital Okolobiri in Yenagoa Local Government Area of the state. The isolation centre was created by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, NCDC and the epidemiological team of the state’s Ministry of Health to control the spread of the virus.

The NCDC and the epidemiological team were said to be tracing 49 other persons, who had been in contact with persons infected with the virus.

The state Commissioner for Health, Ebitimitula Etebu, confirmed the development on Wednesday adding that samples of the virus had been sent to the World Health Organisation laboratory in Dakar, Senegal for confirmation.

He described monkeypox as a viral illness caused by a group of viruses that include chicken pox and smallpox, adding that the first case was noticed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and subsequent outbreaks occurred in the West African region.See the details :http://healthyhealthng.com/monkeypox-disease-confirmed-in-bayelsa-state/