Monkeypox: Seek medical care for suspected symptoms in children - Parents urged

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has called on parents to seek medical care immediately if they suspected symptoms of Monkeypox in children.

Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General of the GHS, said that was important as the disease had been recorded among children.

He said children as young as one year and people with a median age of 26 had been infected with the disease with recorded cases being common in males.

"In terms of age; we have the youngest of one year and median age of 26 years, but so far recorded cases are mainly common in males, '' he stated.

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus. Symptoms of the disease include rash on or near the genitals (penis, testicles, labia, and vagina) or anus.

People infected with Monkeypox could also appear with other symptoms such as fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches and backache, headache, and respiratory symptoms (e.g. sore throat, nasal congestion, or cough).

Dr Kuma-Aboagye in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said, so far, the country had recorded a total of 39 Monkeypox cases.

The Director-General in providing an update on the recent Monkeypox-related death in the country assured that investigations were underway to ascertain the true cause, adding that the disease did not usually kill.

"Because Monkeypox doesn’t usually kill, whoever made the release we believe it may be an error. We will need to verify and confirm the real cause of death.

"We can’t say Monkeypox is the cause of death until we have completed all our investigations, including autopsy to see what the possible cause of death may be...," he stated.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the country had a robust system in place to pick up cases, and that there were also plans to train as many health workers as possible to effectively identify and manage cases of Monkeypox.

He explained that even though the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended the use of smallpox vaccine as a form of protection against the disease particularly for at high-risk groups the country was yet to decide on it.

"If we see a particular group at high risk as being done in the US, we will vaccinate. We have not seen a particular risk group yet that we will need to vaccinate and even with smallpox, a very few countries have the vaccine," he added.

 Dr Kuma-Aboagye urged the public to avoid close contact with people who had a rash that looked like monkeypox.

They should also avoid handling clothes, sheets, blankets, or other materials that have been in contact with an infected animal or person.