Malaria has claimed the lives of six of 483 people hospitalised for the mosquito-borne disease in Gauteng this year. The health department has denied that there is an outbreak of malaria in the province.
”We don’t have that breed of mosquitoes in Gauteng,” spokesperson Bhungani ka Mzolo said on Monday.
However, it is ”concerned and on high alert” about the rapidly increasing infection rate since the beginning of the year.
”It is people who travel outside Gauteng that contract the disease. Holiday-makers coming back from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Namibia and Limpopo are the ones being treated in local hospitals,” said Ka Mzolo.
A person died at the Kalafong hospital in Tshwane, two at Tembisa hospital, one at Tambo Memorial hospital, one at Edenvale hospital and one at Coronation hospital.
”Many patients have been treated and discharged, but seriously ill people remain in hospital for further treatment and observation.”
Most of the cases, 202, were in Ekurhuleni. So far, 119 of these patients have been discharged. Of 45 people admitted to hospital on the West Rand, 39 have been discharged.
Ka Mzolo said that in Johannesburg there have been 142 cases with 21 discharges; in Tshwane 59 cases with 26 discharges — one person had refused treatment; and in Sedibeng 35 cases and 20 discharges.
Malaria symptoms include coughing, sweating and body-temperature fluctuations.
”Any person who has travelled outside the province’s borders and is experiencing these symptoms should report to the nearest health institution for a check-up,” he said. — Sapa