• Medication sufficient for the treatment of 50 people for mpox is being shipped to South Africa, according to the WHO.
• Currently, there is only enough medication for 15 people.
• South Africa has recorded 16 confirmed mpox cases since May.

In response to the mpox outbreak in South Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) is in the process of shipping medication for the treatment of an additional 50 people for mpox locally.

At a briefing on Wednesday, the WHO’s Dr Joseph Wamala revealed that the medication currently available in the country, known as Tecovirimat, TPOXX or ST-246, was only sufficient to treat 15 people with a two-week dose.

All the doses of Tecovirimat are being supplied under a Section 21 application to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) and are not yet registered in South Africa.

A vaccine being used in other countries to prevent mpox is also not registered in South Africa.

During the briefing, Wamala said that of the mpox cases reported in Africa, the majority had been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Wamala said that in Africa, 3 473 cases had been confirmed since the start of the year, which resulted in 35 deaths.

Cases were reported from 10 countries.

The DRC has the highest number of confirmed cases (65.3%) and the highest number of deaths (25.6%).

Since 8 May, South Africa has recorded 16 cases, with three deaths. All the cases were recorded in men aged between 23 and 43 years old.

Wamala added that of the South African mpox patients, 44% had received Tecovirimat treatment, and 15 of the 16 cases had been classified as severe according to the WHO definition.

During the briefing, the University of Pretoria’s Dr Shanal Nair said that globally, cases have been climbing in the Americas and Europe.

Since the start of the outbreak in 2022, there have been more than 97 700 cases and 203 deaths globally. At least 116 countries have been affected.

She said that global trends had shown that more than 96% of cases were among men. Of the positive cases, almost 86% of cases with sexual data identify as men who have sex with men. Sexual encounters were the most reported type of transmission.

In South Africa, half of the positive cases, identified as men who have sex with men, said Nair.

Common symptoms of mpox include a rash that may last two to four weeks, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen glands (lymph nodes).

The painful rash looks like blisters or sores and can affect the face, palms of the hands, soles of the feet, and groin.

The health department hadn’t commented by the time of publication.

source:WHO ships more mpox meds to SA as cases climb | News24