Measles cases on the rise, now in five provinces

Measles cases continue to rise, with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) stating on Friday that 216 laboratory-confirmed cases had been reported from five provinces with a declared measles outbreak.

Last week, the NICD said 169 cases of laboratory-confirmed measles had been reported from October 11 until December 7 across North West, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Gauteng.

According to the latest figures. the Free State has reported five cases. Limpopo led with 110 cases, followed by Mpumalanga (64), North West (27) and Gauteng (10).

The NICD said the ages in confirmed cases ranged from two months to 42 years and the majority of cases (92) were in the 5-9 years age group, followed by 64 in the 1-4 years age group and 31 (14%) in the 10-14 years age group.

It 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; cough, red eyes, and runny nose.

“Complications of measles include pneumonia, diarrhoea, dehydration, encephalitis, blindness and death. Measles complications are severe in malnourished children and young infants under two years of age,” it said.

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