Cape Town - No secondary cases of monkeypox have been detected through contact tracing of the three confirmed cases in South Africa.
In the Western Cape, Health and Wellness Department spokesperson Mark van der Heever said the individual in the single Cape Town case of monkeypox has recovered according to his knowledge, and no new cases have been recorded.
Last week, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) provided a situational report on the epidemiological and public health response to the ongoing multi-country monkeypox outbreak. At the time of the report, no secondary monkeypox cases were reported.
Since June 22 to July 14, there had been three unlinked laboratory confirmed monkeypox cases in the country, reported from Gauteng (30), Western Cape (32), and Limpopo (42).
Approximately 204 laboratory tests (PCR) had been conducted from May 25 to July 13.
NICD spokesperson Senior Communications Manager, Sinenhlanhla Jimoh, said the third confirmed case reported on July 10, 2022 in Limpopo was an imported case involving a tourist from Switzerland who arrived in South Africa on July 2, 2022.
“However, he has a history of being in close contact with a suspected/confirmed case of monkeypox on June 28, 2022 in Switzerland and developed signs and symptoms of monkeypox on July 2, 2022 before travelling to South Africa. He developed mild disease, not requiring hospital treatment and has since returned to Switzerland on July 10, 2022.”
The first case was reported on June 22 and the second on June 28, 2022 with both patients having no recent international travel history.
“The first case reported in Gauteng had close contact with an undiagnosed person with international travel history, while the Western Cape cases reported to have possibly had unspecified contact with people who had international travel history due to his line of work,” Jimoh said.
The NICD could not confirm if the three cases had fully recovered as this information needed to be provided by the treating doctor, nor could Jimoh confirm if more cases had been detected through contact tracing. He said contact tracing falls outside the mandate of the NICD.
On treatment for monkeypox, Jimoh said: “The treating doctor can advise, based on clinical assessment. Our role remains surveillance, diagnostic testing and research with regards to communicable disease.”
Monkeypox symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, chills and exhaustion, followed by skin lesions or a blister-like rash – often on face, feet and/or hands.
The provincial Health and Wellness Department had previously said there was no need for public panic, as the virus is not highly contagious or easily transferable, and needs close contact to be transferred.
National Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the government is continuously and closely monitoring Covid-19 variants and sub-variants all the time.
“This is done by sequencing the gene or PCR tests and monitoring waste water at various locations. So far the case numbers are low, so tests are few in number. However, If we pick up anything we will inform the public. So far nothing to report,” Mohale said.