Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
South Africans warned to take malaria precautions
South Africans have been cautioned to take preventative action against malaria with the onset of summer, following the spike in confirmed malaria cases in South Africa during the previous season.
Prof Lucille Blumberg, deputy director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases’ (NICD) Centre for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (CEZD), told Farmer’s Weekly that approximately 50% of the 10 000 to 20 000 annual malaria cases in South Africa were contracted locally, with the remainder contracted outside of the country but diagnosed locally.
“Most [locally acquired malaria] cases are in Limpopo [with] some in Mpumalanga. There are relatively fewer cases in the far north of KwaZulu-Natal,” Blumberg said.
She explained that factors contributing to the malaria outbreaks included temperature, rainfall and humidity. A potential increase in locally contracted cases in particular would pose a threat if the country’s malaria control programme experienced financial or resource cutbacks.
“Indoor residual spraying [against mosquitoes] is very effective in reducing malaria transmission, but it’s very resource-intensive. It also only targets indoor-feeding mosquitoes. Many people sit outside in the evening and are bitten [there],” Blumberg explained.
Dr Basil Brooke, head of the NICD Vector Control Reference Laboratory, said concerted efforts utilising a range of controls had reduced incidences of malaria in South Africa by “at least” 95% over the past 70 years.
He explained that in addition to indoor residual spraying to control adult mosquitoes, South Africa was now also increasingly targeting the larval stages of these malaria vectors to control outdoor populations.
Blumberg urged any people presenting with fever or flu-like symptoms after having visited a malaria risk area, or those who live in these areas, to immediately inform their health practitioners. “Early recognition of symptoms, diagnosis and treatment are critical. Malaria is very rapidly progressive and any days of delay may result in complicated malaria, even just four days after the onset of the symptoms.”