South Africa records eight new measles cases

South Africa has eight new laboratory-confirmed measles cases, five of which were detected in Limpopo, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said yesterday.

According to the latest data, the national public health institute tested 5 853 serum samples for measles since the outbreak was declared in October last year in all the provinces in South Africa, except for the Eastern Cape. Of these, 976 were confirmed positive.

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“The measles strain detected in Limpopo and North West is genotype D8, which is similar to the strain in Zimbabwe in the 2022 outbreak,” the institute said.

Statistics

Citing the statistics, NICD said Limpopo has recorded 410 cases, with 108 in Mpumalanga, 216 in North West, 166 in Gauteng, 29 in Free State, 20 in KwaZulu-Natal, 14 in the Western Cape, and seven in the Northern Cape.

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In addition, in the provinces where an outbreak has been declared, the most affected age groups are still the five to nineyear-olds (43%), with a considerable proportion of cases reported among the one to four-year-olds and 10 to 14 age groups (20%).

Meanwhile, NICD reported that the percentage of samples testing positive (PTP) decreased from 20% of 83 samples tested in the previous week to 14% of 53 samples tested recently.

Overall, NICD said the incidence of measles appears to be decreasing across the country.

“However, Limpopo has remained stable and largely contributed to the increased number of cases seen in the previous week.

“Continuous surveillance for measles cases is recommended.”

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NICD said prevention and control of measles outbreaks can only be achieved through vaccination. Measles patients present with fever, rash and one or more of these symptoms, including cough, red eyes and runny nose.

Measles complications

Complications of measles include pneumonia, diarrhoea, dehydration, encephalitis, blindness and death. Measles complications are severe in malnourished children and those under two years of age.

People of any age who are unvaccinated can get the disease. The institute said national measles vaccination coverage remains low, but it is never too late to take the jab.

Children over the age of six months to 15 years were targeted in the national supplemental immunisation campaign rolled out in all provinces on 6 February.

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“The NICD continues to report on a large number of cases with unknown vaccination status. We urge districts and provinces to complete vaccine status on the investigation forms to complete the data.” Clinicians across the country are urged to be on the lookout for measles cases.

– SAnews.gov.za