The number of whooping cough cases in Nelson Mandela Bay has risen to close to 100 with 11 new patients diagnosed and hospitalised over the festive season.
Patients with the potentially fatal disease have been admitted to Dora Nginza Hospital, Life St George’s Hospital and Livingstone Hospital.
Health spokesperson Lwandile Sicwetsha said since December 14 another 11 cases had been diagnosed.
He said nine of the patients were treated at Dora Nginza Hospital, one at Life St George’s Hospital and one at Livingstone Hospital.
He said there had been 93 confirmed cases of the disease since January 2018.
In 2017, there were only five cases of the disease recorded over the entire year.
Sicwetsha said so far there has been a “public health response” in only half of the confirmed cases (52%), one probable case, one suspected case and two cases that subsequently tested negative for whooping cough.
He said the number of cases responded to had dropped by 1.4% over the festive season.
The public health response is undertaken by department officials who vaccinate and give prophylaxis to close family members and contacts of those with the disease.
“A total of 270 close contacts of patients have been traced and managed,” he said, adding that 59% of the people traced had received prophylaxis.
He said an immunisation campaign for children under five had begun in all health districts in the metro and 15 vials of a booster vaccine for women over 32 weeks’ pregnant had been delivered to each clinic.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported an increase in the number of laboratory-confirmed whooping cough cases in SA between January and August but also warned that it should not be seen as an illness that only babies can get.
“Persons who are not immune to the bacterium Bordetella pertussis through vaccination or previous infection can get [whooping cough] at any age.
“However, some individuals are at increased risk. Infants and young children who are not vaccinated or partially vaccinated are at high risk for infection and severe disease.
“Individuals with a weakened immune system and those with chronic lung disease are also at high risk for severe disease.
“Previously vaccinated individuals including older children, adolescents and adults are also at risk of getting [whooping cough] as immunity wanes over time. Infants are most likely to develop complications and to die,” the NICD said in a statement.
According to a communication sent out by private laboratory Ampath, a sharp increase in the number of positive whooping cough cases had been noted since August 2018.
According to the requirement of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in South Africa, infants should receive four vaccine doses against whooping cough at the ages of 18 months, three, five and seven.
This comes as health department superintendent-general Thobile Mbengashe revealed in his annual report that the provincial immunisation rate had dropped from 78.6% to 67.3% in the past year.
Whooping cough spreads through contact with respiratory droplets from coughs and sneezes and can be passed from adults to children.
Infants are more susceptible to the disease.
Three babies have so far died of the illness in the Bay.