By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Gauteng Department of Education has confirmed that a Grade 1 pupil at Iketleng Primary School in Hammanskraal has been diagnosed with monkeypox.
The diagnosis was made after the girl’s parents took her to the hospital after she showed symptoms of the infectious disease.
This brings the total number of infections to 23 since the first case was reported in May this year, while the death toll remains at three.
Gauteng Department of Education’s spokesperson Steve Mabona confirmed the case was reported on Tuesday.
“According to information at our disposal, the learner had visited relatives in Boplaas this past weekend and during the visit, it is alleged that some of the relatives were displaying symptoms of monkeypox. Upon returning home, the learner reportedly had itchy sores and was taken to the hospital on Monday, 15 July 2024, where the diagnosis was reported as monkeypox.
“The affected learner is currently receiving appropriate medical care and is in isolation along with her family. Consistent communication is being kept with the family to provide all the necessary support,” said Mabona.
The Department of Health said, everyone who experiences any of the mpox symptoms with or without international travel history, is urged to present themselves to a health facility for clinical observation and confine themselves to one place until their test results are available.
Mpox was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the DRC, with the spread of the Clade I subtype, since mainly limited to certain West and Central African nations, with people mainly catching it from infected animals, such as when eating bushmeat.
Then in May 2022, mpox infections surged worldwide, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men. That was the Clade II subtype.
Since last September though, a new, deadlier Clade I strain has been spreading in the DRC, which is sexually transmitted also among heterosexuals, with the outbreak beginning among sex workers.
Testing revealed it was a mutated variant of Clade I, called Clade Ib.
The global mpox outbreak two years ago led the WHO to declare a public health emergency of international concern, the highest alarm it can sound, in July 2022.