Durban — A teenage boy from the Eastern Cape died two months after a dog bit him in the head and face, bringing the total number of human rabies cases in South Africa to 11 since the start of the year.
This was according to the December 2023 communiqué by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). The NICD said that a case of rabies was confirmed on December 5 in a 14-year-old boy from Qonce in the Eastern Cape.
“In early October 2023, the adolescent sustained several bites to the head and face from a dog in the neighbourhood. The dog could not be traced afterwards. Medical attention was sought, but the patient did not receive rabies post-exposure prophylaxis,” the NICD said.
“Two months after the incident, the patient developed fever, malaise, headache, nausea, vomiting, pain and paraesthesia at the sites of the wounds, muscle spasms, dysphagia, ataxia, aerophobia, confusion, anxiety, aggression, agitation, hyperactivity and hypersalivation. The patient died during the second week of December 2023. Testing was performed on antemortem saliva specimens, confirming the diagnosis of rabies.”
The NICD added that in total, 11 cases of human rabies had been confirmed in South Africa for the year 2023 to date.
“These cases were reported from: Eastern Cape (5, notably 2 cases from Qonce), KwaZulu-Natal (5), and Limpopo (1),” the NICD said.
In the Eastern Cape, human rabies cases were reported in the following districts: Buffalo City (3), OR Tambo (1) and Amathole (1). In KZN, rabies cases were reported in the eThekwini Metro (2), King Cetshwayo (1), Zululand (1) and Ugu (1). While in Limpopo, the one rabies case was from Vhembe.
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