Seithati Mphatsoane
THE Ministry of Health says it has recorded about 32 cases of mumps and six of measles nation-wide following a suspected outbreak of the two diseases.
Measles is one of the world’s most contagious viral diseases. It causes body rash with flu like symptoms, which if not treated can lead to permanent blindness.
Mumps also are a contagious viral disease caused by the Paramyxovirus that can cause swelling on the saliva glands with fever symptoms which can degenerate into infertility for boys and meningitis if not treated.
The Ministry of Health’s spokesperson, ’Mamolise Falatsa, said the cases had been properly tested and all confirmed positive.
Ms Falatsa said the outbreak could be a result of the hesitation by parents to have their kids vaccinated for the prevention of the mumps and measles. That reluctance had resulted in the ministry’s failure to reach its immunity target of 95 percent during an initiative to inject the young for prevention of the mumps and measles.
“Our target was to have 95 percent of the young population vaccinated and immune to measles and mumps but we were only able to reach 41 percent of our target due to the hesitation of parents in participating in the vaccination initiative…. That then posed a huge threat of the pandemic breaking out since we had not reached our majority target for immunity,” said Ms Falatsa.
She added the reluctance of parents to have their children vaccinated could have been a result of misinformation and fabrications that the vaccines had negative side effects on recipients.
Ms Falatsa urged the public to act rapidly once they suspected someone was suffering from these diseases in their area and report such to the Ministry of Health or to their nearest health institution.
