Malaria kills six in Gauteng

2006-01-23 21:22

Johannesburg - Malaria has claimed the lives of six of 483 people admitted in hospital for the mosquito-borne disease in Gauteng this year

The health department has denied there was an outbreak of malaria in the province.

Spokesperson Bhungani ka Mzolo said: "We don't have that breed of mosquitoes in Gauteng."

However, it was "concerned and on high alert" about the rapidly increasing infection rate since the beginning of the year.

Ka Mzolo said: "It is people who travel outside Gauteng who contract the disease.

"Holiday-makers coming back from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Namibia and Limpopo, are the ones being treated in local hospitals."

Patients treated, discharged

A person died at Kalafong Hospital in Tshwane, two at Tembisa Hospital, one at Tambo Memorial Hospital, one at Edenvale Hospital and one at Coronation Hospital.

"Many patients have been treated and discharged, but seriously ill people remain in hospital for further treatment and observation."

Most of the cases, 202, were in Ekurhuleni. So far, 119 of these patients had been discharged.

Of 45 people admitted to hospitals on the West Rand, 39 had been discharged.

Ka Mzolo said that in Johannesburg there had been 142 cases of whom 21 had been discharged; in Tshwane, 59 cases with 26 discharged - one person had refused treatment; and in Sedibeng, 35 cases and 20 discharged.

Malaria symptoms included coughing, sweating and body-temperature fluctuations.

Ka Mzolo said: "Any person who has travelled outside the province's borders and is experiencing these symptoms should report to the nearest health institution for a check-up."

- SAPA