Cape Town - The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) which has been monitoring the highly contagious measles outbreak in Limpopo, has detected more cases.
As of October 31, the number of laboratory confirmed measles cases has increased to 12 in the Greater Sekhukhune district.
This comes after the NICD issued a measles alert in the area on October 11, when seven cases were reported.
The institute said two new measles-positive cases were reported in the Mopani district on October 28, bringing the number of cases to three within 30 days in the Giyani area.
According to the NICD, the Giyani area in the Mopani district meets the case definition for a measles outbreak.
Patients with measles in the Greater Sekhukhune district ranged in age from nine months to 24-years-old, with seven males and five females diagnosed.
“The National Institute for Communicable Diseases is awaiting the measles case investigation forms from the Mopani district to update the measles information from the Giyani area. The ages of measles cases in the Mopani district ranged between two and five years. In the Greater Sekhukhune district, three children were fully vaccinated against measles, seven had unknown measles vaccination histories, and two children had not been vaccinated against measles. Of the new cases, none were hospitalised,” the NICD said.
It said it has strong surveillance systems in place and was confident that they would be able to pick up further outbreaks.
Vaccination efforts in the districts have now been intensified and the NICD is planning a measles campaign early next year in efforts to prevent the spread of the outbreak to other parts of the country.
Measles patients present with fever, rash, and one or more of other symptoms including coughing, red eyes, and runny nose.
Cape Times