South Africa’s health authorities on Tuesday confirmed a third case of monkeypox, in a 42-year-old male tourist from Switzerland, in the Limpopo province, reported The Reuters.
The tourist, who is holidaying in South Africa, showed symptoms including a rash, muscle ache and fatigue. South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases confirmed the latest monkeypox case.
“Three contacts have already been identified and none of them have developed signs thus far,” Limpopo health official Phophi Ramathuba said in a statement.
She called on the public to remain calm and continue wearing masks as a precaution.
“We are calling for calm. We can confirm that the case is an outpatient, currently isolating and requires no admission,” Ramathuba said.
She assured that more information will be communicated once available.
The two previous monkeypox cases were reported in South Africa’s Gauteng and the Western Cape provinces. The health authorities reported that 11 close contacts were traced between the two males, 30 and 32 years old, there were no further cases. Notably, both the monkeypox cases had no travel history.
Monkeypox is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions. It is endemic in parts of Africa, but not South Africa.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the number of monkeypox cases around the world have increased 77 percent in the last seven days.
As per the latest WHO report, there have been 6,027 laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox in 59 countries as of Monday, up 2,614 cases from June 27, the last time the UN health body issued its report.
According to the WHO, monkeypox primarily affect men who have sex with men who had recent sex with one or multiple male partners.
The WHO is expected to convene an emergency meeting next week to determine if whether monkeypox represents a public health emergency of international concern.
