Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla announced on Wednesday that his department intends obtaining a stockpile of Tecovirimat (TPOXX) treatment for rapid deployment against the monkeypox disease, also known as Mpox, from which the country has recorded one death.

Phaahla was updating the public on the outbreak of Mpox disease, where he noted five laboratory-confirmed cases and said treatment would be donated by other countries in case the current situation led to a wider outbreak.

“…two of these cases were confirmed in Gauteng and three in KwaZulu-Natal. The death that occurred is amongst the two cases reported in Gauteng. The patient passed-on on Monday, 10 June 2024 in Tembisa Hospital,” said Phaahla.

He highlighted that all current patients were males aged between 30 and 39 years without travel history to the countries currently experiencing an outbreak, which he said suggested there was local transmission of the infectious disease in the country. 

In 2022, South Africa recorded five positive cases in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng, with no cases reported in 2023.

Some common symptoms of Mpox include a rash lasting for two to four weeks, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen glands.

The department explained that the painful rash looks like blisters or sores and can affect the face, palms of the hands, soles of the feet, groin, genital, and/or anal regions.

Phaahla said currently there was no registered treatment for Mpox in the country, however, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended the use of Tecovirimat for treatment of severe cases, such as in individuals with a CD4 cell count of less than 350. 

He added that three of the five cases had access to Tecovirimat treatment as advocated by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

The drug was obtained via Section 21 and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Saphra) approval process, and donated by the WHO.

He noted that Saphra has since approved a request for a small stockpile of Tecovirimat, which the WHO would support as a donation.

He said as far as the vaccine is concerned, options are being considered as to which population groups should be targeted, explaining that South Africa is trying to source vaccine from WHO member countries who have stockpiles that exceed their needs as well as from GAVI.

Phaahla added that these vaccines will be stored and distributed from provincial depots.