By Staff Reporter
Ministry of Health says Malawi has not registered any Monkey Pox case as it is reported on social Media platforms.
In a statement, the Ministry’s Secretary Charles Mwansambo says they indeed received a report from Chiradzuru District Health Office ( DHO) on a patient suspected of having Monkey pox but medical results proved that the person was not suffering from Monkey Pox.
” The Ministry received a report of a said patient from Chiradzuru District Health Office. The Ministry Immediately, using WHO recommended Integrated Disease Surveillance Response ( IDCR) started investigating the case including getting a specialist opinion from from Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital which is indicating that it was not a case of Monkey Pox but disseminated varicella disease which affects the skin, brain, liver, lungs( encephalitis, hepatitis, and pneumonitis )and is caused by varicella virus, the virus that causes Chicken Pox and Shingles,” he says.
Mwansambo says, the patient also had not travelled outside the country and neither had been in contact with any known case of Monkey Pox and that through the Public Health Reference Laboratory at the Community Health Sciences Unit( CHSU) in Lilongwe, the Ministry will proceed to process samples from the case to guide the definitive diagnosis.
Mwansambo has however, assured the public that the Ministry will continue working with the World Health Organisation in monitoring the monkey pox global situation.
