Health authorities in Eastern Equatoria State are investigating rumors of a monkeypox case in Kapoeta County.
This week, netizens alleged that a patient presented symptoms of monkeypox virus in the state.
When contacted, Governor Louis Lobong told Eye Radio his office did not receive an official report about the viral disease as speculated in the social media.
“I heard rumors like that and I asked my people in the department of health and they said they said so far they have not received any official report,” said Lobong.
However, he said, the state minister of health has traveled to Kapoeta to investigate the allegations.
“The minister of health has travelled to Kapoeta to try to investigate and we will then be able to let you know. We are only hearing this on social media, the technical people like the minister have travelled there and will let you know if it is true,” said the governor.
Meanwhile, the Director General for Preventive Health Services at the National Ministry of Health says authorities have received an alert of a skin related-disease.
But until confirmed, he says, South Sudan is yet free of the monkeypox pandemic.
“We don’t have monkeypox yet, I said we have an alert that it is a skin disease and it is a kind of, you can classify it as water washed disease.
So, all skin diseases need personal hygiene. Individuals should keep themselves clean and avoid contact with someone with a rash which resembles chicken pox”.
The official could not however confirm whether or not he has heard of the monkeyox rumors at the border town.
What to know about monkeypox
Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus.
It is part of the same family of viruses as smallpox, symptoms are milder than smallpox and monkeypox is rarely fatal.
Symptoms of monkeypox can include Fever, headache muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes and chills.
Others can be exhaustion, and rashes that can look like pimples or blisters that appears on the face, inside the mouth, and on other parts of the body, like the hands, feet, chest or private parts.
The rash goes through different stages which may take several weeks before healing completely.
The World Health Organization has reported more than 1500 suspected cases of monkeypox from eight countries in Africa since the beginning of this year.
So far, 59 cases have been confirmed positive and 72 deaths reported.