Since the beginning of the festive season, 58 people have been treated for malaria in Limpopo, and 23 are in a critical condition at the Donald Fraser hospital in Thohoyandou said national Health Department spokesperson Phuti Seloba.
”We urge people to go to the nearest clinic as soon as they start experiencing symptoms of malaria, such as headaches and fever,” he said.
He said people should rather be safe and get themselves examined at clinics if they have numerous mosquito bites.
The affected areas include Makuya, Masisi and Tshipise outside Thohoyandou.
Seloba said the outbreak was caused by heavy rains in the area and that the department was concerned that the number of cases might increase as people returned from holiday.
”We have had serious rainfall the whole of December and as you know, there are a lot of fruits growing in the area and when people throw away the rotten ones, the compost forms a breeding ground for mosquitoes.”
Seloba advised the public to fix leaky taps, cut the lawn and get rid of stagnant water by creating furrows to channel water out of their yard. He also said that people should purchase mosquito nets if they can afford them.
Seloba said there was no reason for people to panic and that the the situation was under control.
The number of reported malaria cases dropped from 300 a week in 2004 to 115 a week in December last year.
Seloba said that 2003 was the worst year for malaria cases in Limpopo.
According to statistics from the Health Department 7 010 malaria cases were reported in 2003 with 106 fatalities. In 2004, the figures dropped to 4 899 reported cases and 50 fatalities. By July last year there were 2 013 reported cases with nine deaths.
”At the moment we don’t have deaths [in December]. We admit we have a problem, but we don’t have a crisis. It’s a manageable type of problem.”
He attributes the drastic drop in reported cases to various malaria awareness campaigns launched in August last year, which encourage people to go to clinics if they suspect they have malaria.
Limpopo has a population of nearly six million people with a total of 400 clinics within a 5km radius of each town. Seloba said about three hundred clinics were open 24 hours a day.
Malaria kills an estimated 2,7-million people annually, 75% of them children in Africa. – Sapa