By: Aneeqa du Plessis
The Western Cape Department of Health continues to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated as measles continues to spread through the Cape Metro. According to chief operating officer, Dr Saadiq Karriem there are just under 10 cases in the province.
“All provinces around the country have declared an outbreak except for the Eastern Cape. The outbreak started in Limpopo during the October month last year and since then 721 cases have been noted by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) around South Africa,” explained Karriem on VOC’s Breakfast show on Friday morning.
He further thanked caregivers for being forthcoming in terms of the jab.
“Parents are being very responsible and allowing their children to be vaccinated because thus far we’ve had 420 000 children and just under half of those have been in the Cape Town Metropole area and our teams will continue visiting schools to vaccinate kids,” said Karriem.
According to the NICD, patients with measles will present with fever and a rash.
VOC
