While the national Health Department said the status of the mpox virus was still under control in South Africa, it appealed to the public to be vigilant and present to the nearest health facility if they experience mpox-like symptoms.
Those with chronic conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis and diabetes were also urged to adhere to treatment as per the instructions to keep their immunity stronger against other emerging diseases like mpox.
This comes after the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) amid an upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa that had never reported mpox before.
According to the Africa CDC, suspected cases across the continent were now well over 17,000.
The WHO said mpox was considered to be a PHEIC with “potential to spread further across countries in Africa and possibly outside the continent”.
South Africa has confirmed 24 positive cases, including three deaths.
Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said: “The declaration of mpox as PHEIC doesn’t immediately change the current response efforts by the country. In fact, the situation remains under control for now based on the ... number of positive cases and epidemiological and surveillance data at our disposal.”
Commenting on the possible connection between the mpox virus and HIV, he said: “Based on the current data, (a) number of positive cases are living with HIV, and we urge all people with chronic conditions like HIV, TB, diabetes to adhere to treatment as per the instructions to keep their immunity stronger against other emerging diseases like mpox.”
“The announcement by both Africa CDC and WHO means countries should work together, share data and best practices to respond to this outbreak.”
Dr Tamsin Lovelock of Stellenbosch University/Tygerberg Hospital Infectious Diseases Unit said the WHO declaration was not reason to panic, but should be seen as mpox “being made a health priority”, meaning there would be more resources made available for diagnostics and management of mpox cases.
“Mpox is caused by a virus, it is an infection. There is an antiviral agent available (to treat it) and there is also a vaccine. Both of those are not easily available in South Africa, although the antiviral agent can be procured for patients who have severe disease.
However, what’s important to understand about mpox is that most cases of disease will be quite mild and they won’t require any specific treatment; it will just be supportive management of the lesions and pain relief.
In some patients who might have other illnesses affecting their immune system, those patients may get much more severe disease which needs that specific treatment,” Lovelock said.
“The ruling by WHO makes access to treatment and vaccine a lot easier, particularly for less well-resourced settings.
“We have an established way to diagnose, we have a treatment and a vaccine available. What we focused on in terms of research is exactly how it is transmitted.
“Knowing how it is transmitted and in what population groups there is an increased risk to help us find these cases. You always want more treatment options, less expensive treatment options, so treatment is always a big focus of research, but at the moment what we want to gather is how is it spreading and how can we affect that spread and limit the number of cases,” she added.
Cape Times