NOT TRUE: US denies spreading Monkeypox through Nigerian labs

The United States has denied social media speculations that the US-controlled laboratories are being used to spread Monkeypox in Nigeria.

The embassy in a statement titled ‘U.S.-Nigeria collaboration on infectious disease threats’, explained that the collaborative work between Nigeria and the US has provided opportunities for technical assistance in capacity building, equipment, commodities/consumables, and funding to critical public health programme, hospitals and laboratories which contribute greatly to the prevention and amelioration of global disease outbreaks.

The statement read in part, “Recent misleading posts on social media wrongly speculate on the origin of the current global outbreak of Monkeypox disease and supposedly call for the World Health Organisation to investigate the so-called ‘U.S.-controlled laboratories’ in Nigeria.

“Such reports are pure fabrication. There is zero merit to any allegations regarding the use of US-assisted Nigerian laboratories in the spread of Monkeypox. Furthermore, there are no “US-controlled” laboratories in Nigeria.

“These falsehoods detract from the work that the United States, in close coordination with Nigeria and multilateral partners, accomplish together on public health that includes disease surveillance, diagnosis, prevention, and control.”