South Africa’s health minister, Joe Phaahla, has announced the country’s first confirmed death from Mpox.
A 37-year-old man passed away due to the virus on Monday, having been hospitalized in Gauteng province three days earlier.
Minister Phaahla noted that all five cases reported in the country this year—another in Gauteng and three in KwaZulu-Natal—were classified as severe, requiring hospitalization.
These cases were all in men aged between 30 and 39, none of whom had traveled to areas experiencing Mpox outbreaks, indicating local transmission.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, spreads through close contact and manifests initially with symptoms like fever, headaches, swellings, back pain, and muscle aches, progressing to a rash.
While the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency over Mpox in 2022, the outbreak ended last year, though sporadic cases persist in some regions.
Minister Phaahla emphasized the importance of seeking medical help for suspected symptoms and contact tracing.
The five diagnosed patients had pre-existing immunodeficiencies and contracted the disease since May.
Of those infected, two have been discharged, while two remain hospitalized. Close contacts of the deceased individual will undergo monitoring for 21 days.
Mpox was first reported in humans in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970 and remains endemic in the region, according to the WHO.
Source-BBC
