Limpopo Residents warned against malaria
After 46 cases of malaria have been reported in Limpopo, the Department of Health has urged people to be extra cautious.
LIMPOPO – The department recently distributed pamphlets, urging residents to, among other things, stay indoors between sunset and sunrise, or wear long pants, socks and shirts with long sleeves when they have to go outside.
Other precautionary measures include to keep windows and doors closed before dark, to use insecticide sprays and treated bed-nets, and to discard or cover standing water containers as they provide breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
People planning to visit malaria-areas are urged to take preventative medication before they embark on their journey.
Health MEC, Dr Phophi Ramathuba, said the department was concerned because 70% of the 46 patients who were treated for malaria in the Waterberg region did not travel to any places where they could have contracted the infection.
“It concerns us that anopheles mosquitoes which transmit malaria are found in Waterberg.
This is why, as the department, we have activated our response team who are in the area fumigating, however, the most important factor is for people to know that malaria is preventable,” she said.
So far no fatalities have been reported and people who experience fever, cold shivers, vomiting, and sweating are urged to seek medical help immediately. Those diagnosed with malaria are urged to finish their treatment. Malaria is a parasitic disease.
