In recent months, there have been outbreaks in South Africa of vaccine-preventable diseases including measles, mumps and diphtheria.
This year, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has issued reports on three outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases -- measles, mumps and diphtheria.
The current measles outbreak started late in 2022. On 19 June 2023, the total number of measles cases detected was 1,067 across the eight provinces.
Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus. The most common symptoms are fever and a rash that looks like small, flat, red spots all over the body, which do not form blisters. Other symptoms include a cough, conjunctivitis and a runny nose. The virus can cause severe complications like encephalitis (an infection in the brain) as well as blindness, diarrhoea and dehydration. It can be deadly, and infants under two years of age are most at risk.
On 19 May, the NICD issued an alert for healthcare workers that two cases of diphtheria, a contagious and potentially life-threatening bacterial infection, had been detected in April.
On 26 May, a mumps outbreak was confirmed and the NICD has identified 580 positive cases this year. But based on data from the National Health Laboratory Service, the mumps outbreak had very much dissipated as of the end of...
