WATCH | 'Calm and under control': Diphtheria outbreak has been ...
The Department of Correctional Services says it has contained the diphtheria outbreak at Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, after a 19-year-old prisoner died and eight others tested positive for the disease.
Briefing the media at the prison on Monday, National Commissioner of Correctional Services Makgothi Thobakgale said the department was vaccinating prisoners.
He said: "The Department of Correctional Services is taking measures to prevent and control the spread of diphtheria at the facility. We would like to inform the public and stakeholders that we are taking proactive measures to contain the spread of the disease."
Thobakgale added that 15 correctional services officials had been identified as contacts while three others had shown symptoms and were recovering at home.
"The health and wellbeing of our staff and those incarcerated are of utmost importance to us. We are dealing with a serious health infection," he said.
READ | Diphtheria outbreak kills inmate at Pollsmoor Prison
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases issued a diphtheria alert as early as April this year after confirming a case in a child in the Western Cape and another in an adult in KwaZulu-Natal.
Diphtheria is rare, but a drop in vaccine coverage, waning vaccination rates in adults, and children not completing their vaccination schedule are linked to its resurgence.
It is a contagious and potentially life-threatening bacterial infection with a toxin-producing strain of Corynebacterium diphtheriae or, more rarely, Corynebacterium ulcerans or Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis.
It occurs in two forms – respiratory diphtheria, which is spread by respiratory drops; and cutaneous diphtheria, which is spread through lesions on the skin via prolonged contact.
National Commissioner of Correctional Services Makgothi Thobakgale (centre) outlined measures put in place to contain the outbreak of diphtheria at Pollsmoor Prison.
Marvin Charles/News24
Thobakgale said a disease outbreak in a facility such as a prison requires a coordinated response to contain spread.
He said:
Key measures we have conducted include a vaccination campaign; 342 inmates have been vaccinated and 36 officials have also been vaccinated. We have heightened our hygiene practices. Our facilities have been deep-cleaned as well.
Overcrowding a key concern
Thobakgale said overcrowding in prisons continues to remain a concern, especially in the remand detention facility.
"With regards to Pollsmoor, we have adequate space and all the isolated inmates are comfortable. These are infrastructure resources we have put in place, and we are comfortable that we are able to manage the numbers and we have controlled them," he said.
READ | Health department appeals for calm as NICD detects two diphtheria cases in KZN, Western Cape
Western Cape Health Department spokesperson Byron La Hoe said they had responded to several cases of diphtheria at Pollsmoor Prison since 3 November.
"The situation is currently calm and under control. To date, nine cases have been laboratory-confirmed, including one death. The eight cases that tested positive have all been isolated and treatment has been provided to them.
"Of the eight inmates who tested positive, only two were symptomatic. The rest were asymptomatic positive contacts. No new cases have been reported in the past five days," he said.
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