A 40-year-old man is the third fatal victim of smallpox in South Africa, after 16 cases confirmed since May 08, the local Department of Health reported.

The patient, from the city of Ladysmith in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), had symptoms similar to smallpox, including rashes all over his body, but was not hospitalized, the Ministry of Health said in a statement released today by local media.

“He died at home and tested positive (…) on June 23,” the statement reads.

South African border authorities announced Tuesday that visitors to the country will be screened for the disease at ports of entry.

The infectious disease can cause painful or itchy rashes, including pimples or blisters, but is “preventable and treatable if diagnosed early”, according to the Ministry of Health which advises people to “avoid physical contact with someone who has smallpox" and the "practice hand hygiene".

According to the World Health Organization (OMS), in March 466 cases of smallpox were confirmed in 22 countries and three deaths, although suspicions of possible cases point to a much higher number.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) alone, the virus has caused more than 7.000 cases and at least 384 deaths since the end of 2023, according to the ONU.

The WHO warned at the end of March that this new outbreak, from a different family than the one that caused an international emergency in 2022, poses a risk to the Congolese population, neighboring countries, and the world.

The WHO representative in the DRC, Boureima Hama Sambo, highlighted the lethality of the smallpox outbreak, which led to the declaration of an international emergency between July 2022 and May 2023, after nearly 90.000 cases were reported in 111 countries, with 140 deaths in Europe, the Americas and elsewhere.

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