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Published Date

2010-02-07 12:22:45

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PRO/EAFR> Measles - South Africa (04): (Eastern Cape)

Archive Number

20100207.205328

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MEASLES - SOUTH AFRICA (04): (EASTERN CAPE)
*******************************************
Date: Sat 6 Feb 2010
Source: Times Live (South Africa) [edited]
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article295086.ece

The Eastern Cape Health Department is battling to contain a measles
outbreak that has claimed 3 lives since January [2010]. Zithulele
Hospital's principal medical officer, Dr Karl le Roux, said the
latest victim was a young pregnant woman who died at the Mthatha
Academic Hospital on Wednesday [3 Feb 2010].

He said 2 of the victims died of pneumonic measles strains, and the
3rd was killed by encephalitis measles. He described measles as a
highly infectious disease best dealt with by prevention, rather than
managing it after an outbreak, "as it spreads like wildfire."

At Zithulele Hospital, 243 people have been admitted with measles
symptoms since November [2009]. A mother to one of the affected
children arrived at the hospital with her 11-year-old son, a day
after his birthday. The child developed a rash and a "runny tummy."
After rushing the boy to a clinic, she was referred to Zithulele
Hospital, 25 km away. At that stage she said her sick son was so
dehydrated that he couldn't open his eyes. "I was told that my son
had measles. His running stomach and rash were clear signs of measles
and he would have to be hospitalised," said the mother.

Eastern Cape Health Department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo confirmed the
outbreak and described the situation in the King Sabtha Dalindyebo
municipal area, which includes Mthatha and Mqanduli, as having
reached "the epidemic curve and is still on the increase, especially
in the inaccessible, hard-to-reach areas such as Ngcwanguba."

A National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) report revealed
that the crisis had spread to other provinces in the past few weeks,
and of the 6685 specimens sent to laboratories nationwide, 420 had
tested positive for measles. The Eastern Cape is considered one of
the worst hit provinces, as 108 of the 420 cases were from the province.

Dr Lucille Blumberg of the NICD said that the country was
experiencing a measles outbreak and that some provinces were harder
hit than others. She said failure to vaccinate was the main cause. At
least 2 wards of the 120-bed Zithulele Hospital have been set aside
to treat measles. During a Sunday Times visit, the ward had 4 babies
aged between 2 and 8 months.

A 2-year-old Twalinkulu village boy is suspected to have been the
source of the outbreak in the Eastern Cape, after returning from
Johannesburg a week before Christmas [2009] with positive signs of
the illness. "We thought all would be over in January [2010], when
holidays are over. Instead, things are getting worse ," said a
healthcare worker at the hospital.

The report identified the 1st fatality as a 20 year old, from Qhogi
village in Mqanduli. He was admitted to the hospital on [29 Dec 2009]
and died on [31 Dec 2009]. The Department of Health has confirmed the
death of a 2nd case, a 22-year-old Fetshu villager, on [3 Jan 2010].
A report by the Eastern Cape Health Department attributes the
fatalities to shortages of medical supplies such as needles,
vaccines, and syringes.

Zithulele Hospital, which admitted more than 70 percent of the
affected cases in the province, complained of having no space to
accommodate critical cases, which have to be isolated. There is also
no transport to transfer patients to better-equipped health
facilities. "We admitted 13 cases on Tuesday [2 Feb 2010] and 14 on
Wednesday [3 Feb 2010]. The department has provided us with supplies,
unlike at the beginning of the year, but because the outbreak is out
of control already, it's hard to put up walls for it not to spread,"
said a Zithulele nurse.

"Our fear is that some of the local pupils have gone to areas such as
East London and Port Elizabeth. I won't be surprised when the
outbreak spreads to other areas." Kupelo said the department was
notified of the outbreak only on [8 Jan 2010], after which they sent
teams to try to manage the situation, but owing to budget
constraints, they were battling to contain the outbreak.

Mandla Sidu, a spokesman for the Gauteng Department of Health and
Social Development, said: "We had an outbreak last year [2009], after
which we undertook a massive immunisation campaign. This is why we
have contained the disease in Gauteng." Western Cape minister of
health Theuns Botha said they are handling the situation as an
outbreak, not an epidemic.

[Byline: Zine George]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR


[The Eastern Cape has had more confirmed measles cases than any other
province in South Africa (26 percent of confirmed cases). The
outbreak is believed to have spread from Gauteng province and the
rapid spread of the disease in the province is attributed to the low
measles immunization coverage in the affected areas. A national
measles immunization campaign is therefore planed this month
(February 2010) to immunize all the unvaccinated cohorts countrywide.

A map of South Africa showing the provinces can be seen at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provinces_of_South_Africa, and the
HealthMap/ProMED interactive map of the country is available at
http://healthmap.org/r/016o. - Mod.JFW]

See Also

Measles - Namibia (02): (Kunene) 20100204.205285
Measles - South Africa (03): (Western Cape) 20100202.205246
Measles - South Africa (02): update 20100122.205080
Measles - Zimbabwe (03): update 20100121.205063
Measles - Zimbabwe (02): update 20100120.205034
Measles - Namibia: (Kunene) 20100117.204973
Measles - Botswana: update 20100117.204972
Measles - South Africa: update 20100111.204804
Measles - Zimbabwe 20100108.204737
2009
----
Measles - Zimbabwe (04) 20091229.204535
Measles - Zimbabwe (03) 20091223.204425]

[For additional background information on measles available from the
general ProMED-mail list, the postings below can be found at
20100202.0358
Measles - Africa (03): Zimbabwe (MV) 20100120.0232
Measles - Africa (02): Zimbabwe 20100120.0229
Measles - Africa: Namibia (KU) 20100117.0195
2009
----
Measles - Zimbabwe (03) 20091229.4376
Measles - Zimbabwe (02) 20091219.4287
Measles - Zimbabwe: RFI 20091215.4254
Measles - South Africa (06): (GT) prisoners 20091026.3707
Measles - South Africa (05): (GT) 20091013.3532
Measles - South Africa (04): (GT) 20091002.3435
Measles - Africa (03): South Africa (Johannesburg) 20090929.3399
Measles - Africa (02): control activities, 2001-2008 20090925.3362
Measles - Africa: Namibia, Angola, South Africa 20090903.3105
Measles - South Africa: (GT), alert 20090405.1319]
...................................jfw/mj/be

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