It’s easier to get monkeypox from sex and kissing – Dr. Okoe Boye

He said though it is not deadly or contagious like COVID-19, it is a challenge.

Speaking on Metro TV in Accra, Dr. Okoe Boye said one of the easiest ways to get it is through sex and kissing.

All I can tell the public is that you got to keep your hygiene very good. Usually, the general rule is that if your hygiene is good, you are less likely to come across such diseases.

“It’s a zoonotic disease. It means it normally harbors in animals, so when your condition is very filthy, you are likely to come into contact [with it].

“The second thing is that, unlike Covid, which is highly contagious, this one, the good news is that it is not too contagious. Honestly, there’s no need for panic.

“It is gotten through close contact. Close meaning that body to body either through hugging, kissing, coming to contact fluid from the other person or exhaled air…when you are in a closed space like this…air condition."

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“So it’s not strictly respiratory like Covid. This one can be spread through sex, body contact and other things,” Dr. Okoe Boye said.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS), through its Director-General Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, on Wednesday, June 8, confirmed that the country had recorded five cases of the monkeypox.

He said: “So far since the outbreak in Europe occurred, we tested 12 suspected cases in Ghana since 24 May. Currently, we have confirmed five cases in three regions – Eastern, Western and Greater Accra – this is where we discovered the five cases, no death has occurred among the cases here,” he said.

“One of the cases has been recorded in a Ghanaian who travelled to the US from Ghana, he might have picked it from here,” the GHS boss added.

Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact with body fluid or monkeypox lesions.