APA-Pretoria (South Africa) Health Minister Joe Phaahla has called on South Africans to remain “calm and vigilant” as two of the country’s nine provinces reported outbreaks of diphtheria.
Phaahla said Friday that the disease has been detected in Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
“We have two laboratory-confirmed cases — one from Western Cape and one from KwaZulu-Natal,” the minister said.
Phaahla urged those with symptoms and suspected cases to seek medical attention immediately.
Diphtheria is a contagious and potentially life-threatening bacterial infection spread through contact with respiratory droplets, or hand-to-mouth contact with secretions from an infected person’s mouth, nose, throat or skin, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
Symptoms include sore throat, fever and swollen glands, the NICD said.
The institute said children who were not immunised or who did not complete the expanded programme of immunisation schedule were at increased risk of getting an infection.
Adults are also at risk of contracting diphtheria if the organism is present in the community because adult immunity after vaccination waned with time, the NICD said.
Susceptible people living in crowded conditions were at increased risk of getting the disease, it added.
NM/jn/APA