The South African health minister has announced that the country has recorded its first casualty from Mpox.
The deceased, a 37-year-old man had succumbed to death on Monday due to the virus after being admitted to a hospital in Gauteng province three days earlier, the health minister Joe Phaahla, had said.
Phaala had also added that all five cases recorded in the country so far in 2024; one other in Gauteng, and three in KwaZulu-Natal – were classified as severe and required hospitalisation.
He further revealed that all the men were aged between 30 and 39, and they had not been to other countries experiencing an outbreak, meaning that the disease was being spread locally.
Mpox (formerly called monkeypox), is a highly viral infection transmitted through close contact with infected persons.
Initial symptoms included fever, headaches, swellings, back pain, aching muscles, and rash.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has in 2022, declared a public health emergency over an outbreak of Mpox and while this was ended last year, low levels of cases are still being confirmed in some countries.
The first confirmed human case was reported in Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, and according to the WHO, the disease continues to be an endemic there.
