Measles claims eighth young victim in Cape
12 March 2010, 07:58
By George Thomson
A one-year-old boy with TB complications has died as the measles outbreak continues to spread in the Western Cape.
The baby died on Wednesday in Tygerberg Hospital's ICU. He was the eighth child known to have died in the province.
The hospital had set up a special isolation unit to deal with serious cases.
The children all had underlying conditions such as HIV, malnutrition, gastroenteritis, poor cardiac function and anaemia. They were six months to two years old.
On Thursday Western Cape Department of Health spokeswoman Helene Rossouw said she couldn't say when the number of cases would begin to fall.
On Monday, an immunisation campaign was launched in "hot spots", such as Khayelitsha, Klipfontein, Mitchells Plain and Drakenstein.
Rossouw said that 1 200 children had been immunised in Mitchells Plain alone. A national immunisation campaign would begin on April 12.
On Tuesday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported that 94 measles cases had been confirmed in the Western Cape in seven days. A total of 765 cases had been reported in the province since January 2009.
george.thomson@inl.co.za
A one-year-old boy with TB complications has died as the measles outbreak continues to spread in the Western Cape.
The baby died on Wednesday in Tygerberg Hospital's ICU. He was the eighth child known to have died in the province.
The hospital had set up a special isolation unit to deal with serious cases.
The children all had underlying conditions such as HIV, malnutrition, gastroenteritis, poor cardiac function and anaemia. They were six months to two years old.
On Thursday Western Cape Department of Health spokeswoman Helene Rossouw said she couldn't say when the number of cases would begin to fall.
On Monday, an immunisation campaign was launched in "hot spots", such as Khayelitsha, Klipfontein, Mitchells Plain and Drakenstein.
Rossouw said that 1 200 children had been immunised in Mitchells Plain alone. A national immunisation campaign would begin on April 12.
On Tuesday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported that 94 measles cases had been confirmed in the Western Cape in seven days. A total of 765 cases had been reported in the province since January 2009.
george.thomson@inl.co.za
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Cape Times on March 12, 2010
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