Cape Town - A measles outbreak alert has been issued for the City of Cape Town, following an increase in laboratory-confirmed cases.
The National Institute for Communicable Disease (NICD) said it alerted the National Department of Health and the Western Cape government on Tuesday about the increase in measles cases.
This after four laboratory-confirmed measles were reported in Cape Town from January 24 to February 17.
"Even though all the lab-confirmed measles were investigated, no epidemiological link could be established.
"The cases meet the South African measles outbreak criteria based on the 2015 EPI Surveillance Manual.
"A confirmed measles outbreak, according to WHO-AFRO, is defined as the occurrence of three or more confirmed measles cases (at least two of which should be laboratory-confirmed; IgM positive) in a health facility/district/ sub-district (approximate catchment population of 100 000) in a month.
"The missing information of the laboratory-confirmed measles cases should be followed up, and all the contacts should be vaccinated against measles.
"Clinicians and caregivers should check children’s road-to-health booklets to ensure measles vaccinations are up to date," the NICD said.
Cape Town has been spared the outbreak since October last year.
The NICD noted that the country started with the National Measles Supplementary Immunisation campaign on February 6, 2023, including the Western Cape.
The NICD said enhanced measles surveillance should be done in healthcare facilities.
"Suspected measles cases should be screened using the measles case investigation form to check if they meet the suspected measles case definition before the measles samples are collected for laboratory confirmation," it said.
Measles disease is a notifiable medical condition, and healthcare workers should notify the suspected measles cases on the NMC system; https://www.nicd.ac.za/nmc- overview/overview/.
Measles presents with fever, malaise, cough, conjunctivitis, and a runny nose.
A maculopapular non-itchy, non-vesicular rash appears on the face, neck, trunk, and limbs, usually on day four of the illness.
Other measles complications are pneumonia, scarring of the cornea (kerato-conjunctivitis), and rarely encephalitis.
Measles is highly infectious and spreads rapidly from person to person.
Persons of any age who are not vaccinated can catch measles.
Measles vaccines are given routinely at six and 12 months of age. It is never too late to vaccinate against measles.
Cape Times