A troubling surge in Mpox cases has been confirmed in Gauteng, including the province’s first death.

Minister of Health Dr. Joe Phaahla provided more details at a media briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday.

He said South Africa has recorded a total number of 5 laboratory-confirmed cases and one death.

Two of these cases were confirmed in Gauteng, and three in KwaZulu-Natal.

The death that occurred is amongst the two cases reported in Gauteng. The patient passed on on Monday, 10 June, in Tembisa Hospital.

All cases/patients are males aged between 30 and 39 years without travel history to the countries currently experiencing an outbreak, which suggests there is local transmission of this infectious disease in the country.

All five cases were classified as severe cases as per WHO definition requiring hospitalisation.

“The cases have co-morbidities and have been identified as key populations, Men who have Sex with Men (MSM).

“Thus, the Department is reaching out to organisations working on HIV programmes and with key populations and other stakeholders to implement targeted communication to intensify awareness about the outbreak and local transmission of the disease.”

The disease is caused by the monkeypox virus (MPXV).

This orthopoxvirus transmits from person to person through close contact and from unknown animal reservoirs in East, Central, and West Africa.

Phaahla said South Africa is among the countries currently experiencing the outbreak of Mpox.

Mpox is a viral infection that spreads between people and occasionally from the environment to people via objects and surfaces that a person with mpox has touched.

According to Phaahla, there is no registered treatment for Mpox in South Africa.

“However, the World Health Organization recommends using Tecovirimat (known as TPOXX) for treating severe cases, such as in individuals with a CD4 count of less than 350.”

He said the Department obtained Tecovirimat via Section 21 SAPHRA approval on a compassionate basis for the five known patients with severe disease.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) continues with epidemiological and surveillance activities to identify cases for investigation and estimate disease magnitude through systematic data collection and analysis.

The provinces have been notifying all the cases that meet the case definition of a suspected Mpox case in the Notifiable Medical Condition (NMC) System.

“Meanwhile, the Outbreak Response Team, which is comprised of experts from the Department, provinces, NICD, WHO, and other stakeholders in the health sector, have embarked on contact tracing and case finding in the affected provinces.”

Phaahla said local transmission can be disrupted by supporting those diagnosed with this disease in taking their treatment to prevent infecting others.

“We can also prevent avoidable deaths by cooperating with health officials when they conduct contact tracing and case finding.

“One death is too many, especially from a preventable and manageable disease like Mpox.”

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