{"id":239959,"date":"2022-10-13T15:38:17","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/three-cases-of-measles-outbreak-confirmed-in-limpopo\/"},"modified":"2022-10-13T15:38:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:38:17","slug":"three-cases-of-measles-outbreak-confirmed-in-limpopo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/three-cases-of-measles-outbreak-confirmed-in-limpopo\/","title":{"rendered":"Three cases of measles outbreak confirmed in Limpopo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has declared a measles outbreak after three cases from two healthcare facilities were reported in the Greater Sekhukhune District, Limpopo, within 30 days. <\/p>\n

\u201cA measles outbreak is classified as three laboratory-confirmed measles cases reported within 30 days in a district, and a public health response investigation is needed to identify new measles cases and vaccination of the contacts to prevent the spread of the disease,\u201d the NICD explained on Thursday. <\/p>\n

According to the public health institute, the first two measles cases had an onset date of 22 and 25 September 2022, respectively. Meanwhile, the third case was reported on 2 October 2022.  <\/p>\n

The measles cases were detected in children aged 11 years, a year old and 11 months, respectively. <\/p>\n

The NICD said two children have not been vaccinated for measles, while the other child\u2019s vaccination status is unknown. <\/p>\n

According to the NICD, the Greater Sekhukhune District, with the support of the Limpopo Health Department, started measles case finding and vaccination targeting children between six months and 15 years. <\/p>\n

As of 7 October 2022, the NICD said, 2 052 children have been vaccinated in Fetakgomo Tubatse Municipality and Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality, where measles cases were detected. <\/p>\n

The NICD is waiting for the updated report from Limpopo.<\/p>\n

The institution has since urged clinicians to be on the alert for measles cases, especially in Limpopo, as large measles outbreaks are occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. <\/p>\n

Measles, according to the institute, presents with fever, malaise, cough, conjunctivitis, and a runny nose. <\/p>\n

In addition, a maculopapular non-itchy, non-vesicular rash appears on the face, neck, trunk and limbs, usually on day four of the illness.  <\/p>\n

The NICD said other measles complications are pneumonia, scarring of the cornea, and rarely encephalitis. <\/p>\n

\u201cMeasles is highly infectious and spreads rapidly from person to person,\u201d the institute explained, adding that unvaccinated people of any age can catch measles and develop the disease. <\/p>\n

\u201cClinicians and caregivers should check children\u2019s road-to-health booklets to ensure measles vaccinations are up to date.\u201d <\/p>\n

Measles vaccines, according to the NICD, are given routinely at six and 12 months of age. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is never too late to vaccinate against measles.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has declared a measles outbreak after three cases from two healthcare facilities were reported in the Greater Sekhukhune District, Limpopo, within 30 days.  \u201cA measles outbreak is classified as three laboratory-confirmed measles cases reported within 30 days in a district, and a public health response investigation is needed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":239960,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-239959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/three-cases-of-measles-outbreak-confirmed-in-limpopo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}