BCX in hepatitis scare

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 13 Mar 2009

An internal e-mail is circulating the offices of JSE-listed IT services and solutions group Business Connexion (BCX) warning its employees against possible meningitis and Hepatitis A infections. The e-mail says two of the company's workers have been exposed to the hepatitis virus.

BCX group HR manager Gerhardt Swart says the two cases are no cause for concern among the company's employees. He goes on to say the offices in which the virus could have been exposed have been narrowed down to BCX's Pretoria, Midrand and Rivonia branches. Under the Constitution's confidentiality laws, he could not divulge the posts of the employees who contracted Hepatitis A.

“International health standards say that having even one case of a disease doesn't entail an epidemic, so we are not worried that half of our staff will end up in hospital sick,” he says.

As a precautionary measure, the e-mail also warns employees about the dangers of meningitis, but no cases have been reported at the company.

BCX employs more than 5 000 people in offices around the country. Swart says the e-mail was a precautionary measure taken to meet the company's social responsibility obligations and to quell any risk factors to the company. He adds that such measures are common practice most among businesses.

No need to worry

The Gauteng department of health says it is willing to partner with companies to educate their employees within their organisations. The health department is in the process of rolling out an educational programme to explain the causes and effects of meningitis.

“If companies are already engaging in their own educational programmes then that is most welcome,” says Gauteng health spokesman JP Louw. “We can't prescribe what companies should do within their own organisations, but should they come to us for assistance, then we will do our best to comply.”

Louw says there is no need for concern of a general meningitis outbreak as conventional wisdom says the virus has not spread to such proportions to warrant worry.

“We just aren't at the point where people should be panicking,” he ends.