The 10-14 age group must be included in measles vaccination drive: NICD

The majority of measles cases in outbreak-affected provinces is among the 5-9-year age group, but there is a significant number of cases in the 10—14-year age group, justifying the need for a vaccination campaign to include this age group.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said this on Thursday, at the same time announcing that the number of measles cases continued to increase daily as it continued to receive blood and throat swabs for measles serology and PCR testing.

The NICD said from the week ending October 8 2022 to the week ending January 28, it tested 3,156 serum samples for measles of which 459 were confirmed measles cases.

The NICD said of the 441 confirmed cases in outbreak-affected provinces, 172 were in the 5-9 year age group (39% of all cases) and 74 (17%) in the 10-14 year age group.

It said the 441 cases from the five provinces with declared measles outbreaks were in Limpopo (158), Mpumalanga (86), North West (147), Gauteng (30), and Free State (20).

The NICD said with inland schools having returned during last month, it remained critical to detect cases over the next two to three weeks, as the incubation period of measles is nine to 14 days.

“The NICD continues to support the planned vaccination campaigns as these are the only way to prevent measles transmission and further morbidity and mortality.”

TimesLIVE