South Africa’s National Department of Health has confirmed that the death toll in the ongoing outbreak of monkeypox, or mpox, in the country has risen to three, with the total number of cases climbing to 16. “The country has recorded three more positive cases of mpox and one death as the efforts to curb the spread of this infectious disease are ongoing in the affected communities around the country,” the department said in a statement Tuesday evening. According to the statement, the latest cases involve a 40-year-old male from KwaZulu-Natal province who presented with mpox-like symptoms including rash all over his body and never presented in hospital.
“He passed on at home and the results came back positive for mpox on June 23, 2024.”‘ The other two cases were confirmed in Gauteng province. Both of them presented with symptoms indicative of the disease but had no international travel history.
“This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox in South Africa to 16 since the outbreak of the disease in May 2024. Eight cases from KwaZulu-Natal, seven cases from Gauteng, and one from Western Cape. All cases are males, aged between 23 and 43 years old,” said the department.
“The number of mpox-related deaths has also increased to three.” “We are trying to check the patterns of infection,” said health department spokesperson Foster Mohale Wednesday. When asked about the tracing of contacts of those who might have come into contact with the m.
