Nobody should have died from Monkeypox – Public Health Expert
The death that occurred in Ghana as a result of Monkeypox has been described as unfortunate by a Public Health Expert at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Dr Banda Khalifa.
According to him, ordinarily, Monkeypox infection should not cause severe illness.
He, however, cautioned that persons with existing health conditions are likely to suffer severely if infected and possibly, lose their lives.
Ghana has recorded its first death of Monkeypox since the outbreak of the disease in the country.
The case, confirmed in the Upper East Region on Friday, July 22, tested positive at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR).
“This is the first confirmed case in the region,” Upper East Regional Director of Health Services Dr Emmanuel Kofi Dzotsi said in a statement over the weekend.
“The confirmed case was seen on the 22nd July 2022 at the Upper East Regional Hospital, with a history of fever and skin rash.
“Unfortunately, the [patient] died on 26th July 2022.
“Samples were taken on the 22nd of July 2022 for confirmation at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Accra. We received feedback on the 28th of July, 2022, indicating the sample tested positive for the Monkeypox disease.”
Expressing his thoughts on TV3 on August 1, Dr Banda said, ”I think the death should be worrying because under ordinary circumstances Monkeypox should not cause severe disease”.
“This is such an unfortunate incident that shouldn’t have happened,” he stressed and further stated that “In a situation where an individual with an underlining condition is infected, unfortunately, we can lose a life”.
“We have to do the community engagement, educate the people on it and how to prevent it.”
Earlier, when the first case was recorded in the country, he said Monkeypox is not as severe as other viral diseases.
“It is a good thing that the country has detected this case early enough. It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when we were going to detect it because as we can see the cases have been going up for some time now.
“I won’t say we have to be worried now because Monkeypox is not as severe as another viral disease. The rate of spread is not as fast as Covid-19. It is a good thing we know we have some cases, we just have to strengthen our surveillance system and then detect them as early as possible,” he said on TV3 on Thursday, June 10
