Issued by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases based on laboratory testing data
Highlights
- The NICD has tested 6309 serum samples for measles since epidemiological week 40, 2022, of which 1067 (17%) were confirmed positive. In the past weeks (week 22 up until week 23, 05/06/2023) there have been 17 laboratory-confirmed measles cases detected across the country, of which the majority were from Limpopo (14).
- The percentage of samples testing positive (PTP) decreased from 26% (18/69) of samples tested in week 21 to 20% (13/66) of samples tested in week 22.
- In week 22 (week ending 04/06/2023), Limpopo province reported a total of 12 new measles cases, while a sporadic case (1) was reported in Gauteng. No new cases were reported in Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape. North West, Northern Cape and Free State province last reported cases in week 19 and week 20 respectively.
- Measles virus transmission in the Waterberg district, Limpopo province continues in the 5–14-year group.
- At the district level, the reproduction number as of 2023-05-31 was estimated to be 1.1 (0.78 – 1.4) in Waterberg and 1.2 (0.84 – 1.7) in Greater Sekhukhune, suggesting that infection incidence may be increasing; however, the small number of cases overall leads to substantial uncertainty in these estimates.
Outbreak overview
From epidemiological week 40 2022 to week 23 2022, the NICD has tested 6309 serum samples for measles of which 1067 (17%) were confirmed measles cases. The number of samples submitted and the percentage of laboratory-confirmed measles-positive cases are shown in Figure 1. From epidemiological week 40 of 2022 to week 23 of 2023, 1067 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported from eight provinces with declared measles outbreaks; Limpopo (482 cases), Mpumalanga (109 cases), North West (217 cases), Gauteng (177 cases), Free State (32 cases), Western Cape (15), KwaZulu-Natal (21) and Northern Cape (7) (Table 1). The number of blood samples and throat swabs submitted to the NICD for measles serology and PCR testing increased from 69 in week 21 to 66 in week 22.
