City health workers have been conducting medical testing at Culemborg Safe Space One following reports of a food-borne illness and a number of people ill.
The shelter space facility – which provides overnight shelter for up to 230 homeless people – was reportedly placed on lockdown at the weekend after a number of people displayed symptoms.
While the City did not respond to questions by deadline on Sunday, Mayco member for health and community services Patricia van der Ross confirmed that health staff had been at the facility since Friday evening conducting tests but they were yet to receive results.
Provincial Health and Wellness spokesperson Byron la Hoe said: “The cases in question at the facility are not diphtheria but as a result of food-borne illness, which was responded to by the City health officials today. Please approach the City of Cape Town for comment.”
This is on the heels of an outbreak of diphtheria at Pollsmoor prison which claimed the life of a 19-year-old inmate.
Friend of the homeless Carlos Mesquita said he was alerted by residents of the Safe Space to the situation on Friday.
“There was great confusion and unhappiness based on the fact that no one had been told what was happening.
I was told this morning (Sunday) that approximately 25 individuals had been taken to the hospital and that most people were ill. The residents assumed it had been food poisoning as they had been complaining about the quality of the meals for a long time,” said Mesquita.
Meanwhile, the Correctional Services Department is expected to provide an update on the diphtheria outbreak at Pollsmoor prison on Monday.
The provincial Health and Wellness Department confirmed it was providing prophylaxis and treating symptomatic cases after 55 close contacts were isolated at the prison following the death of an inmate and eight other laboratory-confirmed cases.
Two staff members showed mild symptoms after the first case was officially confirmed on November 2.
The Public Servants Association, representing thousands of correctional officers, said it was extremely concerned about the safety of employees and contact tracing efforts were currently under way to detect close contacts.
The senior lecturer emeritus for Stellenbosch University’s Department of Global Health, Dr Jo Barnes, said diphtheria bacteria is spread from person to person, usually through respiratory droplets, like from coughing or sneezing.
“Those at increased risk are people sharing the same living spaces, people with frequent close contact with the ill person, or persons exposed to secretions such as mucus or fluid from the infection site (mouth, skin etc).
“Some of the inmates in prison are not physically resilient or are suffering from pre-existing health conditions.
Serious overcrowding is widely reported and consequently poor sanitation is widespread. It may be a much more realistic policy to vaccinate all persons admitted to a correctional facility for whatever reason or duration, unless they can prove that they have had all the necessary vaccinations in the past. This may turn out to be a more cost-effective and healthy option than spending a lot of resources coping with outbreaks after they have spread,” said Barnes.
National Institute for Communicable Diseases, spokesperson, Anne von Gottberg, said the focus now is to urge routine vaccinations for infants and young children.
“The Western Cape is working with multiple partners locally and nationally to ensure that cases are identified and treated early, and that the outbreak is contained. The most important message however is for infants and children to go for routine vaccinations, as well as catch-up vaccines if they have missed any routine vaccines,” said Von Gottberg.
Cape Times