South Africa likely to see more cases of rubella this year: NICD

An increase in rubella cases has been noted in the Western Cape since the second week of September (week 36), the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Tuesday. 

It said while sporadic cases have been noted across the country, a week-on-week increase in laboratory-confirmed cases has been noted in Khayelitsha since week 36.

“To date, 19 cases have been identified through serological testing, and all are in the five to nine year age group. Anecdotal reports of increased numbers of clinically suspected cases without laboratory confirmation in the Khayelitsha subdistrict of the City of Cape Town have been received by the NICD.” 

The NICD said before 2020 seasonal rubella outbreaks occurred from week 35 onwards, usually the first week of September. It said fever rash surveillance usually identified at least 800 to 1,000 cases of rubella annually.

During 2020 to 2023, fewer than 50 cases of rubella were identified across the entire country as non-pharmaceutical interventions implemented for the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted rubella transmission.

“As the country has not experienced the usual seasonal rubella outbreaks, we are likely to see a large number of cases in 2023.” 

The NICD said rubella is a mild illness in children and adults but can have severe consequences in pregnant women, particularly those infected in the first trimester of pregnancy. 

It said the rubella virus may infect the foetus, leading to congenital rubella syndrome. In children and adults, rubella infection presents with a rash, low-grade fever, nausea, sore throat, red eyes, headache, cough, runny nose and swollen lymph nodes in the neck.

The rash usually starts on the face and neck before spreading to the rest of the body. The rash lasts for about five days. Congenital rubella syndrome may lead to foetal death, or congenital anomalies including congenital heart disease, cataracts and deafness, the NICD said. 

While rubella is preventable through vaccination, the vaccine is not provided in the national expanded programme of immunisation. 

The NICD said the national health department plans to implement rubella vaccination in 2024 to support the World Health Organisation’s global measles-rubella eradication 2030 target.

The rubella vaccine will be administered with the measles vaccine at six and 12 months. The current measles-only vaccine will be replaced with a single vaccine containing measles and rubella vaccines.

The rubella vaccine is available in the private sector as the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

TimesLIVE