Nearly 5 000 children were treated for diarrhoea in Cape Town in February while 27 have since died from the seasonal disease.
|||Nearly 5 000 children were treated for diarrhoea in Cape Town in February while 27 have since died from the seasonal disease.
The provincial health department said it had admitted almost 800 children for gastro-intestinal infections at its two tertiary hospitals – Tygerberg and Red Cross Children’s Hospital – since January.
Diarrhoea, the major cause of child mortality in the Western Cape, intensifies during summer. Heat encourages bacteria to breed, leading to serious gastric illnesses.
In informal settlements, where there is poor sanitation, residents are at the highest risk of being affected.
The cases start around November and usually peak during February and March.
Faiza Steyn, spokeswoman for the department, said 487 children were admitted at Tygerberg while 271 were treated at Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
Steyn said the department saw more cases of seasonal diarrhoea in March, a situation that pushed hospital bed occupancy to 117 percent at Tygerberg Hospital. Last month, 12 more gastro beds had been made available at Somerset Hospital to relieve pressure on Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
Of the 4 733 diarrhoea cases treated in the metro, just more than 900 were from Khayelitsha, 819 from Mitchells Plain and 620 from the Tygerberg region.
sipokazi.fokazi@inl.co.za
Cape Argus