Measles outbreak grips 5 provinces with more than 600 confirmed cases

South Africa is currently in the grips of a measles outbreak, with over 600 confirmed cases in five provinces since October 2022.

Measles outbreak in SA

Confirmed cases

On Thursday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said it tested 4 019 serum samples for measles.

Of those, 15.3% were confirmed positive.

In outbreak-affected provinces, 586 cases have been reported since week 40 of 2022 (the week of 3 to 9 October).

In the past few weeks, there have been 77 laboratory-confirmed measles cases detected across the country, of which 72 are from outbreak-affected provinces.

Measles outbreak in five provinces

The outbreak has been declared in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng, and Free State provinces.

The most susceptible people fall in the 5 to 9-year-old age group, followed by children between the ages of one and four, and between the ages of 10 and 14.

The NICD says the percentage of samples testing positive (PTP) decreased slightly from 21% of 258 samples tested in week 5 of 2023, to 19% of the 290 samples tested in week six.

The majority of cases (72%) were reported from primary healthcare facilities, while the highest proportion of cases reported from hospitals (approximately 50%) was in children under the age of one.

Western Cape’s outbreak

Following the health department’s announcement of the first four laboratory-confirmed cases in the Western Cape, the province officially declared it as an outbreak.

All cases in the Western Cape are epidemiologically unlinked, but two cases aged two and four years old are from the southern subdistrict and presented at facilities only 4km from each other.

The Western Cape has since commenced its vaccination campaign on 6 February 2023, specifically targeting 0 to 15 year olds.

Vaccination vital

Measles is highly infectious and spreads rapidly from person to person. Children are usually given vaccines at six and 12 months of age, however, it is never too late to get the vaccine.

Members of the public are urged to ensure their children are vaccinated against measles.

The NICD is working on data systems to collect information on hospital admission rates and measles mortality rates.

Compiled by Cheryl Kahla.