As health experts cautioned that “every case of diarrhoea be treated like cholera until proven otherwise”, provinces have been urged to institute surveillance amid the deadly cholera outbreak that has been reported in Gauteng, the Free State and Limpopo.
The national Department of Health hosted a webinar on Tuesday, giving an update on how they were responding to the outbreak that had already claimed the lives of 15 people in Hammanskraal.
The department said 15 countries in Africa were experiencing an outbreak of cholera.
According to the department, the most vulnerable age group was the under-fives.
Health director-general Sandile Buthelezi said political and technical level structures would include experts from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the WHO and the local municipality to act as command units to respond to the Hammanskraal outbreak.
“We are worried about high cholera-related fatalities and have requested specialists to analyse their cases. It is also alarming that more than 34 people from that area were hospitalised. We are requesting the entire country to be on alert and that every diarrhoeal be treated like cholera until proven otherwise,” said Buthelezi.
He said response teams were probing the extent of the outbreak and health ports of entry officials have been alerted.
Equipping healthcare workers, NICD’s epidemiology head Dr Juno Thomas urged them to report cases in time.
She said a single confirmed case was regarded as an outbreak.
“Any acute watery stool must, regardless of colour, be regarded as suspected cholera. Surveillance and reporting is pivotal to cholera reported. Provinces that currently don’t have any cases in the country must rapidly detect and investigate. Areas with confirmed cases must monitor morbidity and mortality,” said Thomas.
Western Cape Health and Wellness Department spokesperson Mark van der Heever said the provincial outbreak response teams were on alert.
“Case notifications have been communicated to all healthcare providers to detect cases early. As per national protocol, all cases presenting with watery diarrhoea will be tested for cholera. Staff have been trained in case detection and management as part of their previous training, and have as a reminder been given the necessary alerts and operating procedures to follow,” said Van der Heever.
Dr Jeremy Nel, from Wits University said: “In cases of severe dehydration, the administration of IV (intravenous) fluids is critical in saving a patient’s life. In case of severe dehydration, seven litres of IV fluid need to be administered in a three-hour period. The treatment of dehydration is most important and healthcare workers need to watch for this.”
Cape Times