Johannesburg - In order to curb the measles outbreak in the City of Ekurhuleni, the municipality is accelerating vaccination of children against measles.
This comes following the detection of 16 confirmed measles cases since the start of the year in the region.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads through infectious airborne respiratory droplets from an infected person when coughing or sneezing.
The country is currently dealing with a measles outbreak since October 8, 2022 and the first three measles cases in Gauteng were reported on December 6, 2022 from a single health facility in the Ekurhuleni Health District.
The City spokesperson said that Zweli Dlamini these three cases fell into the 5–9-year-age group.
All three of the children had an unknown vaccination status.
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), from October 8 to January 14, the had tested 3326 serum samples for measles of which 397 (11.9%) were confirmed measles cases.
As of January 14, 382 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported from five provinces with declared measles outbreaks in Limpopo (145 cases), Mpumalanga (79 cases), North West (125 cases), Gauteng (18 cases), and Free State (15 cases).
“The number of cases continues to increase daily as blood and throat swabs are submitted to the NICD for measles serology and PCR testing,” the NICD said.
The Gauteng Department of Health kick-started its measles vaccination campaign in Ekurhuleni on December 28, 2022.
According to Dlamini, so far, 39 722 children have already been vaccinated as of January 20, 2023.
The City’s target is to immunize a million children between the ages of 6 months and 15 years.
“Furthermore, the ongoing Measles vaccination campaign will see the City’s healthcare practitioners visit pre-schools, primary schools, and high schools to administer the measles vaccines to the unvaccinated, targeted age groups,” he added.
The city said that all it’s clinics do provide vaccination against measles for children aged between 6 months and 15 years and these vaccines are available free of charge at public health facilities.
Signs and symptoms of Measles include the following: flu-like symptoms such as high fever, coughing and sneezing; conjunctivitis (pink eye) and coryza (runny nose); and fatigue, muscle pain, and red maculopapular (blotchy) rash.
“Children under one year of age may develop complicated measles including bronchopneumonia, keratoconjunctivitis (inflammation of the cornea and conjunctiva of the eyes), and rarely encephalitis (inflammation of the brain).
“These complications may lead to irreversible damage or death, especially in immunocompromised or malnourished children,” Dlamini said.
According to the South African Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), children are given the measles vaccine at six months of age and a booster at 12 months.
The Star