The Department of Health has announced that the grade one learner from Hammanskraal, who has a suspected case of Mpox, has tested negative for the disease.
The Department’s announcement comes after the Gauteng Education Department last week “prematurely” issued a statement that a learner had tested positive for the disease. The Department has however since retracted the statement.
This prompted the Department of Health to collect samples for laboratory testing at the National Institute for Communicable Disease, and the results came back negative.
“The public is urged to report to a healthcare facility when they experience any suspicious symptoms related to Mpox, instead of self-diagnosing and isolating without laboratory confirmation. Working together as communities and health authorities, we can prevent unnecessary panic and avoidable stigma. The country has not recorded any new cases of Mpox for last week, and this confirms that the situation is under control,” said the Department spokesperson, Foster Mohale.
According to the Department of Health, there have been 22 positive cases reported since May of this year. This includes 16 recoveries, three deaths and three active cases. Despite the low cases, the Department warned against complacency.
“This does not mean that we are off the hook or should lower our guard, and we cannot guarantee at the current moment that this infectious disease has been eradicated and because it may re-emerge once severe cases present for healthcare,” warned Mohale.
Mpox symptoms include an acute illness characterised by fever and general flu-like symptoms, followed by the eruption of a blister-like rash on the skin. Most people fully recover, but some get very sick.
