Measles outbreak in South Africa declared over with lingering cases

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa has declared the measles outbreak officially over.

According to the NICD, the outbreak, which began in 2022, saw a total of 1106 confirmed measles cases reported across eight provinces.

The NICD conducted extensive testing, analysing 6 523 serum samples for measles, of which 1 114 (17%) were confirmed positive.

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Significant decrease

As of July 2023, no new cases were reported in South Africa, indicating the outbreak has subsided.
In the weeks leading up that date, the NICD reported only 5 laboratory-confirmed measles cases across the country.

Among these cases, three were from Gauteng, and one each from Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.

The NICD said the outbreak is effectively over; however, it continues to observe sporadic cases in certain provinces.

Ongoing cases have been reported in Gauteng and Limpopo, with Limpopo actively carrying out a vaccination campaign.

To officially declare the measles outbreak over in a province, the NICD requires the absence of newly-detected measles cases for more than two incubation periods, which is approximately 42 days.

“Meeting this criterion led to the declaration of the outbreak’s end in the Northern Cape, North West and Free State. However, sporadic cases are still being seen in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western Cape,” said NICD in a statement.

The NICD provided an overview of the measles outbreak in South Africa, highlighting Limpopo as the epicenter of the outbreak and additional cases sporadically reported in Gauteng.

Districts hardest hit

In Limpopo, a total of 511 laboratory-confirmed measles cases were reported. The Waterberg, Greater Sekhukhune and Mopani districts were the hardest hit, with Waterberg recording the highest number of cases – 222, followed by Greater Sekhukhune (142), Mopani (99), Vhembe (35) and Capricorn (12).

ALSO READ: Measles outbreak: Most cases still recorded in Limpopo

Similarly, Gauteng reported a total of 187 laboratory-confirmed measles cases during the same period. The City of Ekurhuleni reported the highest number of cases (110), followed by the City of Tshwane (42), City of Johannesburg (24) and West Rand (11).

The NICD continues to stress the importance of vaccination as a critical measure to prevent and control measles outbreaks. The national measles vaccination coverage remains low in the at-risk population.