The Ghana Health Service has reported an increase in the number of suspected monkeypox cases.
This follows the confirmation of a monkeypox case in the Bia West District of the Western North Region, along with the revelation that 230 other suspected cases have been reported across 88 districts nationwide.
Speaking on Newsfeed on Channel One TV, Dr. Dennis Odai Laryea, Deputy Director in Charge of Surveillance at the Ghana Health Service, stated that his team is working diligently to contain a potential spread.
“We were picking the potential cases and our labs are also up to the tasks and they are able to test and tell us that it is not. In 2022 and 2023 when we had the outbreak, we did some concurrent testing and some of them were also found to be chicken pox and not Mpox.”
”So, some of these cases that have tested negative may be chicken pox or others. Our surveillance system has been looking out for Mpox and the 230 cases we’ve seen this year. In fact, the numbers have gone up a bit more but the numbers we’ve seen so far are just for 2024,” he stated.
He also noted that areas in Ghana near the Ivory Coast border can be considered monkeypox hotspots.
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