The department’s spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, says the department has undertaken outreach campaigns across the province to try and immunise those eligible for immunisation. He added that immunisation is available for children aged 6 months to 15 years of age and parents are urged to visit the health centres as the disease can prove to be fatal in certain instances.

The department says the highest death rate occurs in infants aged 6 to 11 months. With a death rate as high as 20% or 30 % in certain high-risk areas. However, the rates are not an accurate representation of the lethality of measles due to the incomplete reporting of the outcomes of the disease, such as delayed deaths related to chronic diarrhoea.

“Because measles so easily spread among groups of people, especially at schools and crèches, it is absolutely important to protect groups of children/people by immunisation/ vaccination with a safe measles vaccine.”

Lekgethawe says it’s difficult to really say what the cause of the sudden outbreak is. However, he suspects the outbreak was caused due to citizens travelling from other infected provinces, such as Limpopo.

Last week, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported 169 cases of the measles outbreak from 11 October to 7 December 2022 across four provinces - North West, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, and Gauteng - with the first case being reported on 2 December 2022 in the North West.

The disease infected a range of ages — from children of 2 months to adults of 42 years. 44% of the cases were in the 5-9 years age group and 28% in the 1- 4 year age group.

Previously, OFM News reported that the province will continue to monitor the outbreak through their online dashboard.

ALSO READ: Measles outbreak confirmed in North West province

In a statement, MEC Madoda Sambatha said the department has enough vaccines to prevent measles in the province and urged the community to share the message and raise awareness about the outbreak.

OFM News/Bambatha Giko