Where the cases are
Mpox cases in South Africa stood at 18 laboratory-confirmed infections and one probable case on 17 September 2026, and the Department of Health has asked the public to watch for symptoms. Thirteen of those cases were picked up between 13 August and 17 September, which the department says points to local transmission rather than imported infection alone.
The statement was issued on 18 September 2026 by departmental spokesperson Foster Mohale.
| Province | Cases |
|---|---|
| Western Cape, mainly the City of Cape Town | 15 |
| Gauteng | 3 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 1 |
| Total, being 18 confirmed and one probable | 19 |
The patients range in age from 23 to 50, with a median age of 36.5. Eighteen are men and one is a woman.
One of the most recent cases involves a person who travelled to Spain earlier in September and returned to South Africa on 14 September. That person was tested in Spain after being told they were a probable case, and South African authorities are working with their Spanish counterparts to confirm the laboratory result.
The symptoms
The department lists fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain and fatigue, together with a rash or skin lesions. The lesions can appear on the face, hands, feet, genitals or anywhere else on the body.
The rash follows a recognisable sequence. It starts as flat red spots, which rise into bumps, then become fluid-filled blisters, then pus-filled bumps, and finally crust over into scabs.
That progression is the reason mpox is often mistaken for something else early on. A flat red patch with fever attached is not obviously different from several other conditions. What distinguishes it is what the spots do over the following days.
How long after exposure
| Stage | Timing |
|---|---|
| Symptoms usually appear | 6 to 13 days after exposure |
| Full possible range | 5 to 21 days after exposure |
| Period of concern after contact with a case | up to 21 days |
Anyone who has had close contact with a confirmed or suspected case and then develops these symptoms should seek medical attention immediately and avoid close contact with other people in the meantime.
How it spreads
Transmission is mainly through close physical contact with an infected person. That includes skin-to-skin contact with the rash or the lesions themselves.
It also spreads through contaminated materials. Bedding, clothing and towels used by an infected person can carry the virus. In a shared household or a shared room that is the practical risk, and separating linen and washing it separately is the practical answer.
The department has been explicit that mpox can affect anyone, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or income. It has also warned that stigma works against containing an outbreak, because people who expect to be judged delay seeking care, and delayed care means more contacts exposed.
Vaccines and treatment
Government has secured limited doses of the MVA-BN mpox vaccine and of tecovirimat, the antiviral used in treatment, with support from the World Health Organization.
The word to note is limited. These are outbreak response stocks, not a public vaccination campaign. Health authorities will decide where and how to deploy them to interrupt transmission, which in practice means targeting confirmed clusters and close contacts rather than the general population. There is no walk-in mpox vaccination available at clinics, and vaccination does not replace the precautions above.
For comparison, the vaccines that are routinely available free at public clinics are set out in the immunisation schedule for South Africa. Mpox vaccine is not on that schedule.
What to do
If you have the symptoms and a recent close contact:
- Go to a clinic or a doctor rather than waiting for the rash to develop further.
- Say that you may have been exposed, so the consultation starts in the right place.
- Stay away from close contact with others, and keep your bedding, clothing and towels separate, until you have been assessed.
If you need to stay home, the rules on what your employer may ask for are covered in the guide to sick leave and medical certificate rules.
If you are travelling, note that arrivals into South Africa already complete the compulsory traveller declaration, and a recent travel history is worth mentioning to a doctor if symptoms appear afterwards.
What this outbreak is not
Nineteen cases in a country of about 63 million people is a small number, and nothing in the department’s statement describes restrictions, closures or a national health emergency.
What has changed is the pace. Thirteen cases in roughly five weeks, in a country that had been recording isolated infections, is the reason the department went public. The case for paying attention now is that mpox is containable when contacts are traced early, and much harder to contain once it is spreading unnoticed.
Where to check
The Department of Health publishes its media statements at gov.za. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases maintains an mpox disease index page and a dashboard at nicd.ac.za, which is updated as case numbers change and is the place to check for figures more recent than 17 September 2026.
