South Africa’s health ministry confirmed the country’s first mpox-related death on Wednesday. The 37-year-old man succumbed to the viral illness at Tembisa Hospital, becoming the first fatality amongst five laboratory-confirmed cases identified in the past month.
“This loss is a stark reminder of the seriousness of mpox, even though most cases are mild,” said Health Minister Joe Phaahla. Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, spreads through close physical contact and causes flu-like symptoms alongside pus-filled lesions.
While COVID-19 primarily transmits through respiratory droplets, Phaahla emphasized the skin-to-skin contact required for mpox transmission.
Crucially, all five confirmed cases – men aged 30 to 39 – had no recent travel history to outbreak zones. This suggests local transmission of the virus within South Africa. The minister further revealed that all five cases involved men who have sex with men (MSM) and presented with severe symptoms requiring hospitalization, with two patients still under care.
Genetic sequencing of three cases identified the mpox clade IIb strain, which emerged globally in 2022. The first human case of mpox was identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1970. According to the World Health Organization, the DRC accounted for over 99% of mpox cases reported in Africa as of April 2024. South Africa previously recorded five mpox cases in 2022 with no fatalities, followed by no cases in 2023.
