Pretoria - Three more cases of Rift Valley fever (RVF) have been confirmed by the National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), pushing up the number of confirmed cases to 143.
Of the 143 confirmed cases, 95 are from the Free State, 37 from the Northern Cape, eight from the Eastern Cape and one from the North West.
Nine patients have died since the first incident on 13 February - five in the Free State and four in the Northern Cape.
The Department of Health said the majority of cases have had mild flu-like symptoms and have not developed complications.
"The risk of disease is to persons having direct contact with blood or tissues of infected animals and the majority of people affected have been persons working on farms, veterinary workers and slaughtermen," the department said on Wednesday.
The department added that the disease is generally seen on farms and not in the cities other than related to the occasional informal slaughter of infected animals.
"The eating of well-cooked meat poses no risk, nor does the drinking of pasteurized milk. It is likely that the number of animal cases and therefore human will decrease as the weather gets cooler."
An animal vaccination programme on farms and suspected areas has been implemented by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to protect livestock.
On Tuesday, the NICD also assured visitors coming to South Africa for the FIFA World Cup that they are not at risk of contracting the disease, unless they handle infected carcasses on farms or handle raw meat from infected animals.
"There is no risk to visitors to Game Parks as the disease typically only affects ruminants such as sheep, cattle and goats," NICD Deputy Director Lucille Blumberg said at the time.
