Measles outbreak declared in Negros Oriental

The provincial health office of Negros Oriental has declared a measles outbreak with seven cities and municipalities under strict monitoring.

Interviewed after a press briefing in Manila on Tuesday, Health Undersecretary Enrique Domingo said the affected cities and municipalities are:

• Bacong;
• Dumaguete City;
• Mabinay;
• San Jose;
• Sta. Catalina;
• Siaton;
• Valencia

Samples from these areas are undergoing lab evaluations at the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine, Domingo said.

Domingo said the provincial health office declared an outbreak ahead of lab confirmations to trigger response as the cases could be "clinically" classified as measles.

"Kung talagang confirmed at na-detect talaga 'yung measles virus, tsaka pa lang mako-confirm," he said.

Several cases of measles have been detected in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) as early as December 2017. Davao, Zamboanga and Taguig cities have reported confirmed measles cases since then.

Mop-up and immunization efforts are ongoing in ARMM, Davao, and Zamboanga, where the outbreaks have been contained.

"In the ARMM, there were a lot. Unfortunately, sa Mindanao I think we had three deaths. Dito naman sa Taguig, we have now 17 confirmed cases pero no new cases na, these are the old confirmed cases, and the children are doing well, wala namang fatalities dito," Domingo said.

Low vaccine coverage was believed to be the reason for the outbreaks.

"Ang measles kasi eradicated na 'to, like 10 years ago. Bumabalik rin naman 'yan 'pag mababa ang rates of vaccination within the community," Domingo said.

Domingo said the low coverage in these areas could not be wholly blamed on the growing public mistrust of vaccines due to the controversial dengue vaccination program.

"Partly, because January, February natin low coverage, but there has been low coverage talaga in the past. So we cannot say it's just this last quarter," he said, noting that in the case of ARMM, some areas were difficult to reach for health workers.

Mass vaccination programs for children aged six months to 5 years are ongoing as part of catch-up operations to prevent measles from spreading to other communities.

The undersecretary admitted that the scare on vaccines had health workers going door to door to encourage parents to complete their children's vaccination instead of the other way around.

"Para ka talagang nanliligaw sa magulang. Nagha-house-to-house na 'yung mga barangay health workers natin, nagpapaalala ng mga schedule. Dati kasi sila na dadating sa health center natin for the schedule ng vaccine," Domingo said.

Deworming activities are also being encouraged after low turnouts in DOH-sponsored programs.

He said health workers are working "double, triple overtime" to catch up to prevent worse vaccine-preventable diseases from breaking out after vaccine coverage decreased by 30 percent in January compared to the same period last year.

"Ang measles, relatively benign siya, may lagnat siya, maagapan naman, mortality is very low. But we have others, like polio for example, diphtheria, pertusis. These are more debilitating or more fatal," Domingo said.

Families are encouraged to have their children vaccinated with time-tested vaccines against preventable diseases to avoid debilitating illnesses and death. —KBK, GMA News