South Africa’s health authorities report 2 deaths from mpox this week and warn of local transmission

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African health authorities say two people have died this week after contracting mpox, and it appears there is local transmission of the disease. The health minister says the two deaths were among six recent confirmed cases of mpox in South Africa, all of them men in their 30s. None had travel history to countries with current outbreaks. Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox. It was not known to spread easily among people until the World Health Organization identified an expanding global outbreak in 2022.