By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries an “emergency of international concern”.
Governments are advised to raise awareness among doctors and hospitals, take protective measures in suspected cases and educate members of the population on how to protect themselves from infection.
“I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern, “Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Members of an expert committee that met on Thursday to discuss the potential recommendation were split on the decision, with nine members against and six in favour of the declaration, prompting Tedros himself to break the deadlock, he told reporters.
“Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for the moment this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Tedros told a media briefing in Geneva
Monkeypox, so called because it was first discovered in a monkey, is related to the deadly smallpox virus, which was eradicated in 1980, but is far less severe.
In South Africa, the first case of monkeypox was recorded last month in a 30-year-old man from Johannesburg, who had no travel history.
Nearly 15 400 cases were reported from 71 countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) this week, South Africa has conducted 226 monkeypox laboratory tests from individuals suspected of the disease.
Since 22 June 2022 to date, there have been three unlinked laboratory-confirmed monkeypox cases in South Africa, with no deaths reported.
The cases were reported from Gauteng, Western Cape and Limpopo in men aged 30, 32 and 42 years, respectively.
From 25 May to 19 July 2022, South Africa has conducted 226 monkeypox laboratory tests (PCR) from individuals suspected of monkeypox disease within South Africa (122) and other African countries (104).
No recent international travel history was reported in either of these cases from Gauteng and Western Cape, however, the first case reported in Gauteng had close contact with an undiagnosed person with international travel history.
Globally, 13,436 laboratory-confirmed monkeypox cases have been reported from 70 non-endemic countries across five WHO regions, since May 2022 and up to 19 July 2022.
The majority of the monkeypox cases have been reported from the WHO European region, with 7,896 confirmed cases reported from 27 countries as of 18 July 2022.