Rubella cases have been on the rise in the Western Cape since September (week 36), the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said, and while sporadic cases have been recorded countrywide, a week-on-week increase in lab-confirmed cases has been noted in Khayelitsha since week 36.
“So far, 19 cases have been identified through serological testing, and all are in the five- to nine-year-old age group,” it said.
Anecdotal reports of increased numbers of clinically suspected cases without laboratory confirmation in Khayelitsha had also been received, reports TimesLIVE.
The NICD said before 2020, seasonal rubella (often known as ‘German’ measles) outbreaks occurred from week 35 onwards, usually the first week of September: fever rash surveillance usually identified at least 800 to 1 000 cases of rubella annually.
Between 2020 and 2023, fewer than 50 cases were identified across the country as non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented for the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted rubella transmission.
The NICD said that because the country has not experienced the usual seasonal outbreaks, “we are likely to see a large number of cases this year.”
While rubella is preventable through vaccination, the shot is not yet provided in the national expanded programme of immunisation, although the Health Department plans to implement vaccination in 2024 to support the WHO’s global measles-rubella eradication 2030 target.
The jab will be administered with the measles vaccine at six and 12 months. The current measles-only vaccine will be replaced with a single shot containing measles and rubella vaccines. The rubella vaccine is available in the private sector as the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
TimesLIVE article – South Africa likely to see more cases of rubella this year: NICD (Open access)
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