RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service

Situation Update No. 3

Posted:2010-03-10, 04:21:46 [UTC]

Ref.no.: EH-20100310-25260-ZAF

Situation Update No. 3
On 2010-03-19 at 13:33:19 [UTC]

Event: Epidemic Hazard
Location: South Africa MultiStates Free State and Northern Cape

Number of Deads: 1 person(s)
Number of Infected: 27 person(s)

Seven more human cases of Rift Valley Fever have been confirmed by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, the department of health said on Friday. This brings the number of people in South Africa with Rift Valley Fever (RVF) to 39 since the outbreak of the sickness last month. Deputy Minister of Health Molefi Sefularo said of the 39 cases, 34 were in the Free State, three in the Eastern Cape and two in the Northern Cape. The department said most of the cases followed after direct contact with RVF-infected livestock or were linked to farms with confirmed animal cases of RVF. The human cases were farmers, veterinarians and farm workers or family members. The department said additional suspected cases were being tested. Sefularo said RVF, which had been confined to the Free State and Northern Cape, had now spread to the Eastern Cape. The first human laboratory case was confirmed on February 13 in the Free State after the disease was initially detected in the Bultfontein area. The director for veterinarian services in the Eastern Cape Cebifa Mnqeta told Sapa the province had four confirmed farms with RVF, two each in Middelburg and Hofmeyr. Mnqeta said the province was waiting for test results of other suspected cases. Eastern Cape health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said outbreak response teams were sent to the affected areas by Thursday last week. "We deployed teams in the Middelburg and Hofmeyr areas, who visited affected farms to screen cases and educated communities." He said since then 16 people have had blood taken, 11 from Middelburg, two in Cradock and one in Hofmeyr. There is no specific treatment for RVF and no routine vaccine was available for humans. Symptoms of RVF usually last from four to seven days, after which time the immune response becomes detectable with the appearance of antibodies.