WESTERN CAPE NEWS - The number of listeriosis infections in the Western Cape area is growing, with more than 100 cases reported to date - second only to Gauteng.
Charlene Lawrence, Western Cape deputy director for Communicable Disease Control, Health Programmes and Facility-based Programmes on Wednesday 7 February told Knysna Plett Herald that one of the two people from Eden who has succumbed to listeriosis was a 53-year-old woman from George who died in August last year.
The other fatality in October was an 83-year-old man from Knysna.
Six laboratory-confirmed cases have occurred in the Eden District since the outbreak last year. Listeriosis cannot be transferred from an infected person to other people and is usually spread by eating contaminated food products.
Largest documented global outbreak
The World Health Organisation said the number of cases in South Africa is the biggest outbreak of the disease on record in the world.
Mossel Bay Advertiser recently reported about an elderly man who miraculously survived the illness in Mossel Bay.
Western Cape health department regional spokesperson Nadia Ferreira says since 16 January 2018, a total of 767 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases have been reported in the country, of which 101 was confirmed in the Western Cape. "The cases are spread across the district and not contained to only one small geographical area," said Ferreira.
The Nelson Mandela Bay area has reported nine laboratory-confirmed cases with one fatality.
Ferreira said good hygiene, especially when preparing food, is important to minimise the risk of contracting this disease.
Read more our sister publication, Knysna-Plett Herald.
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