Issued by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases based on laboratory testing data
Highlights
Measles Surveillance
- A total In South Africa, 1338 laboratory-confirmed measles cases were reported between epidemiological week 40 2022 to week 50 2023. Limpopo had reported the most number of cases (533), followed by Gauteng (265), North West (226) and Western Cape (56).
- Eastern Cape and Northern Cape Provinces reported the lowest number of confirmed measles cases, with 10 and 20 cases. KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Free State have reported 68, 121, and 39 cases, respectively.
- In December 2023 (up to week 50), 19 measles cases (Table 2) were reported from four provinces. Most of the cases were from the Western Cape (8), Gauteng (8), KwaZulu-Natal (2) and Limpopo (1).
Rubella Surveillance
- Rubella serology testing is conducted at several NHLS laboratories and the NICD. Rubella testing at the NICD is conducted as part of fever-rash surveillance on samples from patients who meet the suspected measles/rubella case definition. Data that are presented here are from these public laboratories.
- A total of 893 laboratory-confirmed rubella cases have been reported in South Africa from week 1 to week 50 2023. The majority (658) of the cases were reported in the Western Cape. Northern Cape reported 166 rubella cases, while the Eastern Cape province reported 36 cases. Sporadic cases were reported in all the other provinces.
- For December, 440 cases of rubella cases were reported. Western Cape remains the province reporting more (323) cases, followed by the Northern Cape (109) and then the Eastern Cape (4). Four sporadic cases were reported in Gauteng and Limpopo each reporting two cases.
- Since week 36, a total of 849 cases have been reported, mainly from the Western Cape (646).
- The most affected age group is children between the ages of 5-9 years old (466), followed by the 1-4 years old (299).
