Pretoria - The national Department of Health has appealed to community members to take extra precautionary measures and maintain proper hand-hygiene as South Africa experiences an outbreak of diarrhoeal disease or gastrointestinal infection.
Additionally, health officials have also raised the alarm on rising number of laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera.
“The department has been informed of cases of people presenting with gastrointestinal symptoms in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria in the past few days, and this has led to over 50 people receiving medical care at Jubilee Hospital,” said Foster Mohale, spokesperson for the Department of Health.
“Unfortunately, six patients have lost their lives.”
Mohale said diarrhoeal disease was a common and often highly infectious condition affecting the stomach and intestines.
“It is a leading cause of child mortality and morbidity in the world, and mostly spreads by contact with an infected person or through contaminated food and drinking water sources.
“Individuals generally become ill 12 to 48 hours after exposure. Some of the common symptoms include diarrhoea, cramps, nausea, vomiting and low-grade fever,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health has also confirmed that the cumulative number of positive cholera cases in South Africa had increased to 22, following the detection of four more cases in Gauteng, and seven cases in Vredefort and Parys areas in the Free State.
“Members of the public are urged to avoid known or suspected contaminated food, water and surfaces, and wash hands thoroughly with soap before handling food or after using the bathroom to prevent possible infection,” said Mohale.
“Never drink water from unsafe sources such as rivers, dams, streams, unless boiled or disinfected first.”
Provincial and district outbreak response teams in both provinces have been dispatched to the affected communities to further investigate the source of the outbreaks.
The response teams will also intensify health education and promotions to empower the community members with health information.
“The department will keep the country informed of the developments and findings of the investigations.”
Earlier this week, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla called for vigilance, and appealed to community members not to panic after South Africa recorded two positive cases of the diphtheria disease.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has alerted the Department of Health of two laboratory-confirmed cases of diphtheria that were detected in April.
“The first case was in an adult in KwaZulu-Natal and the second case was in the Western Cape in a child,” Mohale said.
Diphtheria is an uncommon but vaccine-preventable “serious infection” caused by a toxin-producing bacterium called Corynebacterium diphtheriae.
IOL