Cape Town - Health and Wellness MEC Nomafrench Mbombo has said that there were three deaths and 162 cases of typhoid fever in the the Western Cape over the past year.
Mbombo was replying to a question from provincial ANC health spokesperson Rachel Windvogel, who had asked for a breakdown of reported cases and deaths per municipality from last year to date.
Windvogel had also asked about the prevalence of the disease in the Province, and its causes.
In a written response, Mbombo said that 12 of the cases had occurred between January and March this year, and the deaths had occurred in February, March and December last year in the Cape Town, Cape Winelands and Garden Route districts.
Mbombo said the first death from the disease last year was that of a 51-year-old man from Kalkfontein, Cape Town, who died at Karl Bremer Hospital on February 17 from complications associated with the fever a day after being admitted.
The second death was of a 15-year old boy from Thembalethu, who died at George Hospital on March 13, and the third was of another 51-year old man, this time from Zwelethemba in Worcester. He died at the Tygerberg Hospital on December 27.
She said: “Typhoid fever is most common in areas where water and food may be unsafe and where sanitation is poor.”
Meanwhile, Paarl Hospital’s head of paediatrics, Dr Jaco Murray, said: “Enteric or typhoid fever has recently been in the spotlight with a perceived increase in cases.”
He said that although typhoid fever could be serious, it could often be mistaken for diarrhoea and gastroenteritis, which were fairly common during the warm summer months.
He said the two conditions could be distinguished according to the symptoms displayed. He added that diarrhoea was more common in the summer months, and the department monitored what he called the “paediatric surge season” from November to May.
