The Western Cape Education Department has sounded off alarms of a possible typhoid fever outbreak that may be affecting school pupils.
WCED warns of typhoid fever outbreak in Cape Town
In a statement, the department issued warnings to Western Cape schools about the possible contamination of the Cape Town metro’s water system, pleading with teachers to ensure pupils avoid drinking from taps.
“It was brought to our attention that the Western Cape is one of the provinces that have an outbreak of enteric fever. As a precautionary measure we ask all parents to send bottled water to school for their children,” one Cape Town school warned in a letter to parents.
In its statement, the provincial education department related the recent typhoid fever outbreak to contaminated water, and pointed to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) as the primary source.
Is Cape Town water contaminated with salmonella?
However, in a press release issued by the disease institute, claims around the typhoid outbreak being linked to contaminated water were ruled out as “factually incorrect.”
“There is no evidence that recent cases of enteric (typhoid) fever are linked to contaminated municipal water in any part of the country, and there is no evidence that the bacteria causing enteric fever have recently been identified in municipal water sources elsewhere in the country.
“This includes those districts in [the] Western Cape and North West provinces in which the clusters (small localised outbreaks) have been identified,” the NICD noted.
What is typhoid fever?
Typhoid fever, according to Mayo Clinic, is a bacterial disease that is spread through contaminated food, water or close contact.
The NICD recommends the following measures in protecting oneself against contracting typhoid fever:
- Wash hands with soap and safe water before and after preparing and eating food, handling sickly patients, using the toilet, and handling diapers.
- Keep raw and cooked food separated
- Keep food at safe temperatures
- If water appears murky with strange colouring, boil first before you consume