{"id":59392,"date":"2023-05-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailysouthafrica.com\/?guid=fa0ec7b389a143d91de53bb0f55ec6dc"},"modified":"2023-05-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T00:00:00","slug":"nicd-reports-a-rise-in-malaria-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailysouthafrica.com\/nicd-reports-a-rise-in-malaria-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"NICD reports a rise in malaria cases"},"content":{"rendered":"
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says it is currently seeing a significant increase in malaria cases in the endemic provinces and Gauteng, with many cases of severe malaria due to late presentation or late detection.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cUndiagnosed and untreated malaria rapidly progresses to severe illness, with a potentially fatal outcome,\u201d the NICD warned on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The public health institute has since issued an alert to people with fever or \u201cflu-like\u201d illness, who reside in a malaria-risk area in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga or have travelled to a malaria-risk area, in the past six weeks, to test using a blood smear microscopy or malaria rapid diagnostic test.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they test positive for malaria, the patient must be started on malaria treatment immediately,\u201d the NICD urged.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
According to the statement, patients must inform their healthcare provider of their recent travel, particularly to neighbouring countries and malaria-risk areas in South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the NICD said, Odyssean or \u201ctaxi malaria\u201d \u2013 transmitted by hitch-hiking mosquitoes \u2013 should be considered in a patient with unexplained fever who has not travelled to a malaria-endemic area but is getting progressively sicker, with a low platelet count.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cSeek medical attention early; both malaria and COVID-19 have similar non-specific early symptoms including fever, chills, headaches, fatigue and muscle pain.\u201d \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: South African Government News Agency<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says it is currently seeing a significant increase in malaria cases in the endemic provinces and Gauteng, with many cases of severe malaria due to late presentation or late detection.\u201cUndiagnosed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n