Malaria cases rise in Gauteng

Gauteng health officials are warning of a surge in malaria cases in the province. In the first three months of the year 414 cases and 11 deaths were confirmed.

702 and CapeTalk's Zain Johnson spoke to Tebogo Matjokotja, Programme Manager for Communicable Disease Control at the Gauteng Department of Health.

"Gauteng is non-endemic for malaria meaning that many of the cases we are receiving, they are imported from endemic areas or provinces within the country. But what we have noted with our surveillance is... the majority of the cases they are coming from Mozambique," Motjokotja said.

Between January and mid-February this year Mozambique had over a million cases of malaria. This was attributed mainly to heavy rains and flooding that creates ideal conditions for mosquitoes which transmit the disease - to breed.

The DRC and Nigeria are also areas of concern.

Motjokotja said within South Africa some parts of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga still have local transmissions. "Meaning that there is a parasite there that is causing the disease. So we are worried about those parts."

"So as an economic hub, we have a lot of people coming in and out for different reasons so hence we are on high alert, and we are also sensitising our clinicians about the challenge that we are having."

She explained that they audit every malaria death and out of the 11 deaths in Gauteng, only one person mentioned taking antimalaria prophylaxis.

She therefore urged people travelling to malaria endemic areas to take the medication, which is free from public health facilities, and also to use a protective net.

"If you travel and you've developed flu-like symptoms, you've got a high fever, you've got headaches, abdominal pains and then the nausea. You need to seek medical attention immediately because malaria as much as it's treatable and preventable it can progress very fast."

To listen to the full discussion, click the audio player above.