08 May 2018

Kgatleng District has recorded one malaria death out of 15 reported cases.

In an interview, Kgatleng District Health Management Team (DHMT) chief health officer, Ms Ellen Rannoba said most of the reported cases were in the river villages of Mabalane, Sikwane, Mmathubudukwane, Malolwane and Ramonaka.

She said there had been one reported case each in Oodi and Artesia. She noted that  Kgatleng District fell under zone three that consisted of relatively drier areas with minimal to no rainfall, but that it had since been affected due to the recent heavy rains.

Ms Rannoba said although it came as a shock to have the disease in the area, they took precautions to ensure that it did not spread to the whole region, adding that the outbreak was first confirmed in January this year.

She further explained that Kgatleng DHMT had been quick to respond to the outbreak given the severity of the disease, adding that the one death which occurred was in Ntshinoge ward in Mochudi.

Ms Rannoba said in cases which were reported in Mochudi it was difficult to be definite about the origin of the disease as some of the patients were from the surrounding lands and adjacent cattle posts.

She encouraged residents to follow preventative measures such as cutting grass and creating water drainage systems to avoid stagnant water that became the breeding place for mosquitoes, adding that her team was spreading preventative insecticides.

She explained that doing away with moist areas would be destroying the life cycle of the insect which in turn would result in minimising the disease.

Ms Rannoba advised residents to exercise personal protection such as wearing long covering clothes to avoid being beaten by mosquitoes and to use bed nets and to also use repellents and other insecticides such as sprays to fight off the mosquitoes.

Ms Rannoba said the symptoms of the disease were chills, headaches, muscle aches, tiredness, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

 In severe cases the symptoms include being in a coma, low blood sugar, low blood haemoglobin (severe anaemia), severe breathing and ultimately death. ENDS