Issued by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases based on laboratory testing data
Highlights
Measles Surveillance
- A total of 1267 laboratory-confirmed measles cases were reported between epidemiological week 40 2022 to week 43 2023 in South Africa. Limpopo had reported the most number of cases (531), followed by Gauteng (248) and then North West (225).
- Provinces with the least number of confirmed measles cases are the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape who have reported 10 and 13, respectively. KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Free State have reported 55, 120 and 35 cases, respectively, since the beginning of 2023.
Rubella Surveillance
- A total of 153 laboratory-confirmed rubella cases have been reported in South Africa from week 1 to week 43 2023. The majority (121) of the cases were reported in the Western Cape (Figure 2), while the Eastern Cape reported a few (19) cases.
- Sporadic cases were reported in all the other provinces, since the beginning of the year. Most provinces (FS, KZN, MP, NW, NC) have reported only one case of rubella while Limpopo reported (2) cases and Gauteng (6).
- The number of cases from September to October 2023 had more than doubled.
Outbreak Overview
Measles
- In week 43 2023, a total of 14 measles cases were reported from six of the nine provinces in South Africa, Gauteng (5), Free State (1), KwaZulu-Natal (1), Limpopo (1) and Northern Cape (2) and the Western Cape (4)
Rubella
- Whilst sporadic cases have been noted across the country, an increase in laboratory-confirmed cases was noted in Western Cape in week 36, 14 were reported in the City of Cape Town in the Khayelitsha sub-district. Most of the cases reported in Khayelitsha were among children between 5-9 years.
- Sub-districts in WC that reported most of the cases were Tygerberg (27), Khayelitsha (25), Southern (23) and Mitchells Plain (17).
- The most affected age group are children between the ages of 5-9 years old (70), followed by the 1-4 years old (42).
- In the Northern Cape there was a rubella outbreak in Hopetown, situated in the Pixley ka Seme District Municipality.
