2022–2023 mpox outbreak in South Africa

The 2022–2023 mpox outbreak in South Africa is a part of the larger outbreak of human mpox caused by the West African clade of the monkeypox virus. South Africa was the forty-seventh country, outside of the African countries with endemic mpox, to experience an outbreak in 2022. The first case of mpox in South Africa was on June 23, 2022.[1]

2022–2023 mpox outbreak in South Africa
DiseaseHuman mpox
LocationSouth Africa
Arrival date23 June 2022 – ongoing (10 months and 22 days)
DateJune 29th, 2022
Confirmed cases4[2]
Deaths
0

Background
These paragraphs are an excerpt from Mpox and 2022–2023 mpox outbreak.

Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox)[3] is an infectious viral disease that can occur in humans and some other animals.[4] Symptoms include a rash that forms blisters and then crusts over, fever, and swollen lymph nodes.[4] The time from exposure to onset of symptoms ranges from five to twenty-one days and symptoms typically last from two to four weeks.[5][6] There may be mild symptoms, and it may occur without any symptoms being apparent.[5][7] Cases may be severe, especially in children, pregnant women or people with suppressed immune systems.[8]

The disease is caused by the monkeypox virus,[lower-alpha 1] a zoonotic virus in the genus Orthopoxvirus.[9] The variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox, is also in this genus.[10] It may spread from infected animals by handling infected meat or via bites or scratches.[11] Human-to-human transmission can occur through exposure to infected body fluids or contaminated objects, by small droplets, and possibly through the airborne route.[4][11] People can spread the virus from the onset of symptoms until all the lesions have scabbed and fallen off; with some evidence of spread for more than a week after lesions have crusted.[12] Diagnosis can be confirmed by testing a lesion for the virus's DNA.[13]

There is no known cure.[14] A study in 1988 found that the smallpox vaccine was around 85% protective in preventing infection in close contacts and in lessening the severity of the disease.[15] A newer smallpox and mpox vaccine based on modified vaccinia Ankara has been approved, but with limited availability.[5] Other measures include regular hand washing and avoiding sick people and animals.[16] Antiviral drugs, cidofovir and tecovirimat, vaccinia immune globulin and the smallpox vaccine may be used during outbreaks.[17][18] The illness is usually mild and most of those infected will recover within a few weeks without treatment.[18] Estimates of the risk of death vary from 1% to 10%, although few deaths as a consequence of mpox have been recorded since 2017.[19]

An ongoing outbreak of mpox was confirmed on 6 May 2022, beginning with a British resident who, after travelling to Nigeria (where the disease is endemic), presented symptoms consistent with mpox on 29 April 2022. The resident returned to the United Kingdom on 4 May, creating the country's index case of the outbreak.[20] The origin of several of the cases of mpox in the United Kingdom is unknown. Some monitors saw community transmission taking place in the London area as of mid-May,[21] but it has been suggested that cases were already spreading in Europe in the previous months.[22]

Transmission
Stages of lesion development.

A large portion of those infected were believed to have not recently traveled to areas of Africa where mpox is normally found, such as Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as central and western Africa. It is believed to be transmitted by close contact with sick people, with extra caution for those individuals with lesions on their skin or genitals, along with their bedding and clothing. The CDC has also stated that individuals should avoid contact and consumption of dead animals such as rats, squirrels, monkeys and apes along with wild game or lotions derived from animals in Africa.[23]

In addition to more common symptoms, such as fever, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and rashes or lesions, some patients have also experienced proctitis, an inflammation of the rectum lining. CDC has also warned clinicians to not rule out mpox in patients with sexually transmitted infections since there have been reports of co-infections with syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes.[24]

History

The first known case of mpox in South Africa was detected on Thursday, 23 June 2022 declared by the health minister of South Africa Joe Phaahla. The first victim was a 30 year old man who had no recent travel history, meaning that he has not contacted the disease outside the country.[25] 5 days later on the 28th of June, South Africa confirmed its second case of mpox. The victim also had no recent travel history.[26] On 11 July 2022 South Africa confirmed third case of mpox, the 42 year old is a tourist from Switzerland who came to South Africa to enjoy his holidays.[27] On the second week of August 2022 Minister of Health South Africa announced the 4th case of mpox in South Africa the victim recently arrived from Spain.[28]

See also

Notes
  1. The World Health Organization (the authority on disease names) announced the new name "mpox" in November 2022. But virus naming is the responsibility of the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), who are currently reviewing all orthopoxvirus species. As of March 2023, the official name of the virus remains "monkeypox virus".[3]

References
  1. "First case monkey identified in South Africa". SaNews. 23 June 2022.
  2. "Joe Phaahla announces fourth monkeypox case South Africa". gov za. 15 August 2022.
  3. "WHO recommends new name for monkeypox disease" (Press release). World Health Organization (WHO). 28 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  4. "Multi-country monkeypox outbreak: situation update". www.who.int. World Health Organization (WHO). 4 June 2022. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  5. "WHO Factsheet – Monkeypox". World Health Organization (WHO). 19 May 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  6. "Signs and Symptoms Monkeypox". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 11 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  7. Sutcliffe, Catherine G.; Rimone, Anne W.; Moss, William J. (2020). "32.2. Poxviruses". In Ryan, Edward T.; Hill, David R.; Solomon, Tom; Aronson, Naomi; Endy, Timothy P. (eds.). Hunter's Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Diseases E-Book (Tenth ed.). Edinburgh: Elsevier. pp. 272–277. ISBN 978-0-323-55512-8.
  8. "Multi-country monkeypox outbreak in non-endemic countries". World Health Organization. 21 May 2022. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  9. Taha, M. J., Abuawwad, M. T., Alrubasy, W. A., Sameer, S. K., Alsafi, T., Al-Bustanji, Y., ... & Nashwan, A. J. Ocular manifestations of recent viral pandemics: A literature. health, 13, 14.
  10. Petersen, Brett W.; Damon, Inger K. (2020). "348. Smallpox, monkeypox and other poxvirus infections". In Goldman, Lee; Schafer, Andrew I. (eds.). Goldman-Cecil Medicine. Vol. 2 (26th ed.). Philadelphia: Elsevier. pp. 2180–2183. ISBN 978-0-323-53266-2.
  11. "Transmission Monkeypox". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 11 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  12. Adler, Hugh; Gould, Susan; Hine, Paul; Snell, Luke B.; Wong, Waison; Houlihan, Catherine F.; et al. (24 May 2022). "Clinical features and management of human monkeypox: a retrospective observational study in the UK". The Lancet. Infectious Diseases. 22 (8): S1473–3099(22)00228–6. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00228-6. PMC 9300470. PMID 35623380. S2CID 249057804.
  13. "2003 U.S. Outbreak Monkeypox". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 11 May 2015. Archived from the original on 15 October 2017. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
  14. "Treatment Monkeypox Poxvirus CDC". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 28 December 2018. Archived from the original on 15 June 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  15. Fine, P. E.; Jezek, Z.; Grab, B.; Dixon, H. (September 1988). "The transmission potential of monkeypox virus in human populations". International Journal of Epidemiology. 17 (3): 643–650. doi:10.1093/ije/17.3.643. ISSN 0300-5771. PMID 2850277.
  16. "Prevention". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 29 November 2019. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  17. "Interim Clinical Guidance for the Treatment of Monkeypox | Monkeypox | Poxvirus | CDC". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 26 May 2022. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  18. "Monkeypox". GOV.UK. 24 May 2022. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  19. "Multi-country monkeypox outbreak in non-endemic countries: Update" (Press release). World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  20. "Monkeypox – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". World Health Organization. 16 May 2022. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  21. Pinkstone, Joe (17 May 2022). "Monkeypox 'spreading in sexual networks'". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  22. Nsofor, Ifeanyi (2 June 2022). "OPINION: Media coverage of monkeypox paints it as an African virus. That makes me mad". NPR. Retrieved 2 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. Vargas, Ramon Antonio (7 June 2022). "US raises monkeypox alert level but says risk to public remains low". the Guardian. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  24. "Monkeypox update: Where the outbreak stands now".
  25. "First case of monkeypox detected in South Africa". SabcNews. 23 June 2022.
  26. "Second monkeypox case identified in South Africa". NICD. 28 June 2022.
  27. "South Africa confirms third monkeypox case". Reuters. 11 July 2022.
  28. "South Africa confirm its 4th case of monkeypox". gov za. 15 August 2022.
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