South Africa: Measles cases

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Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.timeslive.co.za/news/article303935.ece

10 more measles cases reported
Feb 12, 2010 8:24 AM | By Sapa

Ten more cases of measles have been reported in the past two weeks in the Eastern Cape, the Herald Online said.

This brought the number of confirmed cases to 190.

The Eastern Cape health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the situation was not yet out of hand and the public did not need to panic.

He said although there was a shortage of manpower, the province had the capacity and enough medical supplies to deal with the outbreak.

 

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Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88090

SOUTH AFRICA: Measles outbreak spreading

JOHANNESBURG, 12 February 2010 (IRIN) - The cause of a measles outbreak sweeping South Africa has not as yet been determined, but initial suspicions point to religious objections and unfounded fears that immunizations against the disease increase the risk of autism in children.

The National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD) said last week that the Western Cape had recorded the highest number of new measles cases, 82, bringing the total in the province to 447, although Gauteng Province remained worst affected, with 4,359 cases since the outbreak began almost a year ago. In other provinces KwaZulu-Natal recorded 631 cases, North West 563, and Eastern Cape 314.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes measles as a highly contagious viral disease affecting mostly children, and that it can be effectively prevented by immunization.

Symptoms usually appear about 8 to 12 days after infection and include high fever, bloodshot eyes, and tiny white spots on the inside of the mouth. A rash also develops, starting on the face and upper neck and gradually spreading over the body.

Measles cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children in developing countries annually.

Most people recover in two to three weeks, "However, particularly in malnourished children and people with reduced immunity, measles can cause serious complications, including blindness, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, ear infection and pneumonia," WHO said on its website.

Adrian Puren, NICD deputy director of virology, told IRIN there were 40 confirmed measles cases in South Africa in 2008, and the key to preventing outbreaks was a comprehensive vaccination programme.

The high infection rate suggested there were "a large number of susceptible individuals" who had not received the highly effective vaccinations, which he attributed to religious objections or the belief that the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) inoculation was a cause of autism.

Autism and vaccinations

The MMR vaccination programme in South Africa provides children with a first vaccination at about 9 months, followed by a measles booster jab at 18 months free of charge. Private medical care offers the option of a separate measles vaccination, or the three-in-one MMR.

Earlier in February, The Lancet, the highly respected medical journal, debunked an article describing a link between MMR and autism, published in 1998.

British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield surmised in a paper that from a sample of 12 children who had received the vaccination, eight had displayed effects of autism.

The article elicited a strong response and by 2004, 10 of the 13 co-authors had distanced themselves from it after charges that the results had been falsified.

Paul Offit, a vaccine researcher at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, in the US, told the Voice of America radio station that numerous studies since then had concluded there was no link between MMR and autism.

"We've reached the many hundreds of thousands mark of children who did or didn't receive MMR to see whether risk of autism was greater in the vaccinated group, and it wasn't - consistently, reproducibly, redundantly," he said.

"I think that the problem is there are people who simply don't believe the science. They hold on to this notion that MMR causes autism, or that vaccines cause autism, much as one holds a religious belief."

Entrenched views

Jill Stacey, national director of Autism South Africa, a support and advocacy organization, said they did not have a position on the link between autism and MMR, as the 300 members were split on the issue, with two-thirds not believing in the link and one-third supporting the idea.

Her organization fielded at least 10 enquiries a month about the connection between MMR and autism, and more if the issue was subject to media attention, but never said, "Do not vaccinate", she told IRIN.

The concern among some members of Autism South Africa was that they believed there was a connection when the measles and mumps vaccination took place simultaneously, especially if the child had a weakened immune system.

"What is infuriating is the [MMR] vaccine cannot be split", and the single dose mumps vaccine was no longer available in South Africa, Stacey commented.

She said The Lancet's decision to retract the Wakefield article was unlikely to sway perceptions either way.

go/he

 

[Shiloh]

Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.capetimes.co.za/?fSectionId=272&fArticleId=vn20100226121421538C176594

Cape measles outbreak now official
26 February 2010, 13:53
Related Articles

* 447 cases of measles in Cape
* Measles drive fast-tracked
* Authorities defend measles 'cover-up'
* Measles alert issued in Cape Town

By Sipokazi Maposa
Health Writer

The Western Cape Department of Health has set up isolation wards to deal with a measles outbreak that has affected more than 500 children in the province over the past few months.

It has also officially declared a measles outbreak in the province.

On Thursday the department said that as a result of an increased number of confirmed measles cases, children's health services across the province were operating under "significant pressure" to curtail the disease, which commonly affects young children.

The department spokeswoman, Faiza Steyn, said an isolation ward to accommodate children requiring hospitalisation for more complicated measles cases had been established at New Somerset Hospital.

A similar ward was to be opened at Tygerberg on Friday.

"The countrywide spread of measles has now been officially declared an outbreak in the Western Cape.

"As at February 22, 2010, 422 confirmed measles cases were reported in the Western Cape, with an additional number of serologically unconfirmed cases," the department reported.

However, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases there were at least 517 people infected with measles in the province, including the 70 newly-confirmed cases.

In its efforts to contain the virus the department said it had implemented an action plan, which was led by a joint operations committee that included clinicians, managers of both tertiary and secondary health services as well as the City of Cape Town's health services.

The committee, led by a senior executive member of the department's management team and head of Red Cross Children's Hospital, Dr Demitry Erasmus, would monitor the current situation to limit any further spread of measles

Steyn said the department had instituted a targeted immunisation plan to limit a further spread of measles in hot spot areas like Khayelitsha, Mitchell's Plain and the Drakenstein region.

She said this meant that every child presenting at public health care centres would be routinely immunised against measles irrespective of whether they had been vaccinated before.

Western Cape Health MEC Theuns Botha said health workers were "ready to deal with the outbreak".

"It is exactly for this reason that the Western Cape initiated the targeted immunisation campaign rather than waiting on the national immunisation campaign in April. We are ready to manage this measles outbreak.

"It is subsequent to pressure from this provincial government that the national Department of Health agreed to make the measles vaccine available to the Western Cape Department of Health so that we are now in a position to roll out the accelerated measles immunisation campaign now while also participating in the national mass immunisation campaign scheduled for April," he said.

However the chairwoman of Cape Metro Health Forum, Damaries Fritz, said the immunisation campaign was still not visible on the ground.

"The department has been telling the media that it has fast-forwarded the campaign, but we don't know where exactly is this being rolled out.

"The fact of the matter is that the immunisation campaign is either not happening or those on the ground don't see it," said Fritz.

He welcomed the opening of the new isolation wards, saying the idea was "ideal as long as those wards are properly staffed".

The provincial health department also came under fire from the national government early this month for failing to inform communities about the outbreak.

The province said it had withheld the information to prevent "unnecessary panic".

* This article was originally published on page 3 of The Cape Argus on February 26, 2010

 

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Re: South Africa: Measles cases

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?glide=EP-20100301-25161-ZAF&cat=dis&lang=eng

Dozens of children remain in critical condition and the number of cases in the measles outbreak continues to grow. Health officials opened a second isolation unit at Tygerberg Hospital on Friday as the ward at New Somerset Hospital approached capacity. It is understood that by the weekend, 28 children had been admitted to the New Somerset Hospital and 18 to Tygerberg. The two wards can accommodate 30 patients. On Thursday the Western Cape Department of Health reported 422 confirmed cases of measles in the province. This was, however, at odds with the records of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, which said on February 12 that there had been 517 confirmed cases in the Western Cape. The department has brought forward a planned immunisation campaign targeting known hot spots

 

[Shiloh]

Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=33975

Measles outbreak under control - MEC
Rafiq Wagiet | 4 Hours Ago

Western Cape Health MEC Theuns Botha on Thursday visited the measles isolation ward at Tygerberg Hospital.

He was assessing the extent of the outbreak in the province which has caused the hospital to set aside two isolation wards for children.

Since September last year, 139 children have been admitted and treated at the hospital for measles.

More than 80 of those children have been under one-year-old and six have died.

Botha was quick to state the outbreak was under control.

Health officials have singled out hotspots including Khayelitsha, Delft and Strand where a vaccination programme was rolled out at clinics.

He added immunisations were rolled out at schools in those areas to prevent the disease from spreading.

Botha assured vaccinations were readily available at clinics and state hospitals across the province.

 

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Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.capegateway.gov.za/eng/pubs/news/2010/mar/195412

Measles Status in the Western Cape
5 March 2010
SOURCE: Department of Health (Provincial Government of the Western Cape)
The logistical arrangements for this Outbreak Response commenced on 1 March 2010 with actual immunisation of children in these hot spot areas in full swing by 8 March 2010. These arrangements include obtaining written consent from parents to have their children immunised at cr?ches within these hot spot areas. Hot spot areas in vulnerable informal settlements will also be targeted outside these areas.

The Department would like to stress that all children presenting to primary health care facilities with measles, will be immunised. Measles is a disease which affects mainly young children and in an overwhelming majority of cases a rapid recovery is made. The exceptions are usually children whose health is compromised by underlying disease and malnutrition. For this reason children living in poverty stricken areas are most risk. Measles is a mild disease in adults, thus we request adults not to panic as this immunisation campaigns primarily focuses on children.

Between October 2009 and February 2010, seven deaths have been recorded at public health institutions. All deaths were among the age groups of between six months and two years. These children also had other underlying medical conditions which included HIV infections, Down's syndrome, Pneumonia, respiratory tract infections, gastroenteritis, poor cardiac function and anaemia.

The National Immunisation Campaign is scheduled for 12 April until 28 May 2010. This campaign will stretch across the province as follows:
Round 1: 12 - 23 April 2010:
Polio (drops) will be given to children 0 to 59 months
Measles (injection) all children 9 months to under 15 years

Round 2: 24 - 28 May:
Polio (drops) to all children 0 - 59 months
Deworming tablet (Albendazole) to children 12 to 59 months
Vitamin A (drops) to children 12 to 59 months

Western Cape Minister of Health, Theuns Botha, said "I want to re-inforce the message that parents must take their children to clinics for the vaccines. It is especially babies that are the most vulnerable."

"In a modern country such as South Africa there should not be an outbreak of an illness such as measles, and I am going to launch an enquiry into the reasons why such an outbreak is occurring. It is very important that parents act responsibly and have their children vaccinated."

Parents and caregivers are urged not to take their children directly to one of the Central Hospitals, such as Groote Schuur Hospital, Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital and Tygerberg Hospital, as vaccination and the initial clinical assessment can be done effectively at their nearest primary health care centre. This will also prevent an unnecessary overload of these hospitals, which will then handle more complicated cases.

Some facts on measles:

* Measles is a highly contagious disease usually seen in children, which rarely affects older children and adults.
* The incubation period (period from first contact with the germ to when illness manifests) is 10 - 14 days, but may be longer in adults.
* It is characterised by tiredness, fever, loss of appetite, red watery eyes, cough and runny nose and a blotchy red rash.
* The rash of measles usually appears 3 - 5 days after the above symptoms. It begins on the face and spreads down over the body.
* The duration of the illness is 7 - 10 days.
* Measles is spread by droplets from respiratory secretions. It is transmitted by breathing, coughing or sneezing.
* The most infectious phase is during the last few days of the incubation period and when the rash appears.

Measles is a preventable disease, and Department urges residents to be aware of the symptoms and to ensure that their children's immunisations are up to date.

Issued by the Directorate: Communications for the Western Cape Department of Health.

Contact:

Faiza Steyn
Cell: 082 801 6960

or

Helene Rossouw
Cell: 082 771 8834

or
Mark van der Heever
Cell: 073 453 6823

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: South Africa: Measles cases

South Africa: Questions Over Handling of Measles Outbreak

Sipokazi Maposa
9 March 2010

The provincial Health Department's "poor handling" of the measles outbreak will top the agenda when the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) meets Health MEC Theuns Botha on Friday.

The TAC was set to meet Botha for talks on poor service delivery at clinics, filling of vacant posts at primary healthcare level, and the department's poor communication to community structures.

This follows last week's protest at Botha's offices in Dorp Street where the group demanded a meeting with the Health MEC after his alleged failure to respond their earlier correspondence with him.

Khayelitsha district co-ordinator of the TAC Mandla Majola said the campaign was "alarmed" by the latest revelation of seven measles-related deaths in the province.

He criticised the department's "poor communication strategy". He said many community health activists and NGOs remained in the dark about the latest outbreak.

He said they had learned about the outbreak and the deaths through the media.

"We are disappointed by the poor communication shown by the department especially concerning measles," Majola said.

"We were neither informed about the outbreak nor the deaths. There's been a lot of secrecy, and we feel that this impacts negatively on health care because many people don't know the seriousness of the outbreak.
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"The little information that we have also means that we are unable to help with the awareness campaign because no information is forthcoming," said Majola.

"We feel that this is inappropriate and we will be raising the issue at our meeting with the Health MEC," he said.

The deaths have prompted Botha to call for a review of the vaccination programme.

At least 671 children in the province had contracted measles since the outbreak in September last year.

Botha said his department would "look deep into the programme and review it to see where do we get things wrong... and what actually caused the outbreak".

The Cape Argus, based on information given it by the department, reported last week that seven children had died of measles in February.

However this week, department spokeswoman Faiza Steyn denied that the seven children died in February, saying the fatalities stretched back to November.

ANC spokeswoman on health Joyce Witbooi blamed the department for not doing enough to publicise the outbreak, saying the uncertainty had caused panic across the province.

"The department's quietness over the issue is disconcerting. There needs to be a plan of involving communities. At the moment I'm not aware of any open communication to these communities. The department needs to explain what is happening.

"Currently people are panicking. The measles campaign won't get community buy-in unless the department is willing to go out and use the right channels of communication, and this can't only be done through the press.

"They have to engage with people," she said.

On Monday a joint anti-measles campaign by both the city and the province was launched at clinics and community health centres.

The city's head of health Ivan Bromfield said the campaign, which would run until March 23, was targeted at children aged between six months and two years as this group was considered to be the most vulnerable.

"We will be focusing on those health sub-districts that have recorded the most measles notifications... Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha and the Klipfontein and Eastern sub-districts."

Children in the targeted age groups would be immunised at all primary health care facilities and cr?ches in the sub-districts, Bromfield said.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201003100277.html

 

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Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=34528

Baby dies of measles in Cape
Rafiq Wagiet | 2 Hours Ago

An eight-month-old baby has died of measles in the Western Cape.

The Health Department confirmed the baby died in Tygerberg Hospital?s measles isolation ward on Wednesday.

At least 100 children under the age of one have already been hospitalised at the Somerset and Tygerberg hospitals since the measles outbreak began in September 2009...

 

[Shiloh]

Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20100317222430560C236659

Measles cases confirmed in Libode
March 18 2010 at 12:09AM

An unspecified number of measles cases has been found in Mkhankatho village in Libode, the Eastern Cape Department of Health said on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said a number of children had been found to have measles, but he could not confirm exactly how many had been affected.

He said a team of health workers would be visiting a school in the village on Thursday. - Sapa

 

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Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.weekendpost.co.za/article.aspx?id=543584

13 children hospitalised in Eastern Cape measles outbreak

2010/03/18


THIRTEEN children have been hospitalised following a measles outbreak in Mkhankatho and surrounding villages in Libode, the Eastern Cape health department said today (March 18).

?Of those admitted eight are toddlers and five teenagers. Only three of them were from Mkhankatho village,? spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said in a statement.

A team of health workers had since been sent to villages in the area to vaccinate 700 children and 5000 villagers after it was detected yesterday.

He said the virus was airborne and most villagers had not been vaccinated.

The first measles outbreak in the Eastern Cape was discovered in January in the Mqanduli area near Mthatha. ? Sapa

 

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Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=125&art_id=vn20100330125331489C119453

25 die of measles and diarrhoea
March 30 2010 at 01:58PM

By Sipokazi Maposa
Health Writer

Almost a thousand children in the Western Cape have contracted measles since the outbreak in September, 13 of whom have died of related complications.

Also, an outbreak of diarrhoea had caused the deaths of 12 children.

Faiza Steyn of the provincial health department said the province had recorded 968 laboratory-confirmed cases of measles, of which the majority was from the Cape Town metropolitan area. At least five measles-related deaths occurred this month, she said.

Gauteng has had the most cases of measles, with 4 608; KwaZulu-Natal has had 1 251 and the Western Cape has had the third-highest number.

Steyn said this year's diarrhoea outbreak represented a 10 percent decrease in the number of cases recorded this time last year. Diarrhoea was an annual occurrence in hot weather combined with poor sanitation

Densely populated areas such as Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Phillipi, Cross Roads, Delft, Mfuleni, Du Noon and Nomzamo in Strand along with parts of the Overberg and the Winelands were worst affected by both measles and diarrhoea, said Steyn.

She earlier told the Cape Argus that diarrhoea, as one of the measles complications, could contribute to deaths associated with measles as well as those linked to pneumonia.

Last year, 37 city children under the age of five died of diarrhoea during February, March and April.

Also see:
http://www.eyewitnessnews.co.za/articleprog.aspx?id=36003 and http://www.capegateway.gov.za/eng/pubs/news/2010/mar/196531

 

[Shiloh]

Re: South Africa: Measles cases

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=125&art_id=vn20100419123042868C155881

20 children die in Cape diarrhoea outbreak
April 19 2010 at 12:59PM

By Sipokazi Maposa
Health Writer

Twenty children in the Western Cape have died as a result of complications arising from gastroenteritis and diarrhoea in the past few months.

Some medical staff said they were under serious pressure from both the seasonal outbreak of diarrhoea and a measles epidemic that had been diagnosed in 1 250 people since September.

The provincial department of health said that more than 700 children with diarrhoea had been admitted to its hospitals last month.

And on Friday, there were just more than 100 children being treated for measles in Western Cape hospitals. Thirteen children have died of complications linked to measles since the epidemic broke out last year.

The Red Cross Children's Hospital is dealing with scores of measles and diarrhoea cases, and staff are battling to cope.

One doctor, who declined to be named, said staff shortages at the hospital meant doctors and nurses felt overwhelmed by the number of patients they were treating.

"Staff aren't happy. There's been too much pressure for them deliver, with few resources. Critical staff shortages have made the situation worse.

"Staff just feel overwhelmed by the work as a result of the measles outbreak, for instance. It would be interesting to know what the department is doing to address staff shortages here," said the doctor.

Provincial health department spokeswoman Faiza Steyn acknowledged that there were staff shortages at the Red Cross Children's Hospital, but insisted these were being addressed as part of an ongoing process.

"We have addressed this with the employment of two additional medical officers at the beginning of the year, and we are in the process of appointing two additional medical officers next month," she said.

Meanwhile, both the province and the city are upbeat about a mass inoculation campaign, which aims to vaccinate at least one million children against measles. It is part of a national inoculation drive - other provinces have also been hit by measles outbreaks.

Steyn said that more than 400 000 children had been vaccinated across the Western Cape during the first three days of the provincial inoculation drive, which started last week.

Dr Ivan Bromfield, the head of City Health, said: "There has been a good response so far. Certain areas have been put under strain with numbers, but are coping.

"The challenges relate to ensuring that normal primary health-care services continue whilst we have to utilise a large proportion of our personnel power to deal with the campaign."

* This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Argus on April 19, 2010

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: South Africa: Measles cases

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
(A division of the National Health Laboratory Service)​

Laboratory-confirmed measles report​

Updated 28 July 2010

http://www.nicd.ac.za/measles_out/measles_current.pdf​