Nigerian Doctor's Warning on Mpox: What Prompted Early Alerts

“That was the time that we made our publication to say that mpox could be transmitted via sexual contact. That was in 2017. We made that assertion, both in the literature and in even some conferences. But unfortunately, it did not gain too much attention at that time for several reasons. And of course, some people also believe that the 40-year-known fact about mpox could not change just suddenly by 2017 outbreaks. So people were very reluctant to accept that change, that epidemiological shift in mpox. So the world, I would say, necessarily did not pay attention to that finding until 2022, when there was a global outbreak,” Ogoina asserts.

“Mpox is transmitted, [as] categorized into three groups; one is animal-to-human transmission. Second, is human-to-human. This could be sexual and non-sexual. The third is environmental-to-human transmission. So to that extent, if you want to mitigate or reduce the body or the spread of mpox, you will need to tackle these three aspects of the modes of transmission. And what is key for every aspect of these modes of transmission is awareness, public education, sensitization, because it's also very important,” he says.