The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has dismissed social media posts doing the rounds regarding enteric fever, also known as typhoid fever, as false information.
“There are numerous social media posts with false information about enteric fever in South Africa that are attracting widespread attention and causing needless concern and panic at the moment,” said NICD’s Dr Juno Thomas on Monday.
The social media posts making the rounds alleged that the is typhoid in municipal water and claimed that there are cases in some towns or provinces.
“These statements are factually incorrect. There is no evidence that recent cases of enteric fever are linked to contaminated municipal water in any part of the country.”
The last time there was a large outbreak in the country was in Delmas in 2005 but since then, South Africa averaged less than 150 cases per year.
During 2020 and 2021, the total number of cases reported didn’t differ much from previous years but the NICD noticed an increase in the Western Cape and North West numbers.
“There is also no evidence that the bacteria causing enteric fever have recently been identified in municipal water sources anywhere in the country, this includes those districts in the Western Cape and North West provinces in which the clusters or small low-cast outbreaks have been identified,” said Thomas.
The NICD said people could prevent infection of typhoid fever by practicing good hand hygiene and consuming safe drinking water.
-EWN
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