Pretoria – Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla is calling for vigilance, and appealing to community members not to panic after South Africa recorded two positive cases of the diphtheria disease.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service has alerted the Department of Health of two laboratory-confirmed cases of diphtheria that were detected in April.
“The first case was in an adult in KwaZulu-Natal and the second case was in the Western Cape in a child,” national spokesperson for the Department of Health, Foster Mohale said.
Diphtheria is an uncommon, but vaccine-preventable “serious infection” caused by a toxin producing bacterium called Corynebacterium diphtheriae.
The toxin may lead to difficulty in breathing, heart rhythm problems, and even death,” Mohale said.
The bacteria spreads from person to person, usually through respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing.
“The symptoms of diphtheria include sore throat (with the formation of a membrane on the tonsil and throat), and swollen glands in the front of the neck. Close contacts of known cases are at increased risk of infection,” he said.
Routine diphtheria vaccination is part of the childhood vaccine programme and parents are encouraged to get their children vaccinated.
“The vaccine should be given to all children as part of the routine vaccines in the first year of life. Booster doses at the age of 6 and 12 years should also be given. Catch-up vaccination is possible if doses have been missed,” Mohale said.
“Diphtheria antitoxin is in short supply globally; the World Health Organization is working to secure additional supplies of antitoxin.”
The health department said treatment in the absence of anti-toxin is in the form of “appropriate antibiotics” and supportive care.
“These cases are a reminder that a drop in vaccine coverage may lead to more cases. All parents are urged to make sure that their children are up to date for routine vaccines. Children who are not up to date for vaccines should be taken to the nearest clinic for vaccination,” Mohale said.
“Clinicians, including primary health-care nurses, throughout the country have been urged to have a high index of suspicion for diphtheria, and to notify suspected cases and to send specimens to the laboratory for testing.”
Mohale said laboratories are encouraged to screen all throat swabs for diphtheria and send all confirmed cases to the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis at the NICD.
According to the NICD website, adults may also be at risk of contracting diphtheria if the organism is present in the community “because adult immunity following vaccination wanes with time”.
Susceptible persons living in crowded conditions are at increased risk of getting the disease.
IOL