Yemeni Health Ministry denies recording any cases of monkeypox in liberated governorates

The Ministry of Public Health and Population in the interim capital, Aden, denied today, Sunday, recording any cases of monkeypox in the liberated governorates.

This came in a statement by the Director General of the General Department of Disease Control and Epidemiological Surveillance at the Ministry, Dr. Adham Mohammed, in a statement to the Yemeni News Agency (Saba).

He said that the surveillance teams in Dar Saad Directorate received a report of a suspected case of monkeypox in an Ethiopian woman aged 32 who had arrived from Ethiopia months ago. The teams went to the case’s home and took the case’s medical history.

He explained that it turned out that the woman was seven months pregnant and showed symptoms of fever, headache and general weakness, and two days later a rash and swollen lymph nodes in the neck area appeared. The teams observed a similar case in one of the patient's children, who denied having been in contact with any similar cases over a period of 21 days.

Dr. Adham confirmed that the teams provided the necessary awareness about the case and advised against mixing, noting that the teams took two samples from the blisters on the patient and sent them to the central laboratory in Aden, which in turn confirmed that the results of the examination of the two samples were negative, which confirms that no cases of monkeypox have appeared in our country.

He pointed out that the teams were directed to follow up on the case and those in contact with it, as well as increase the sensitivity of field surveillance for early detection of any epidemic and to make rapid interventions to control epidemics.