In a report, the DOH regional office said “a total of 106 suspect cases of measles were reported and investigated from Jan. 1 to March 24, 2018 coming from the different disease reporting units (DRU) in Central Luzon.”
It noted this was “41 percent higher compared to the same period last year (75 cases).”
The DOH said Pampanga has the highest 56 measles cases, followed by Tarlac with 18, Bulacan with 11 and Bataan with 10, noting further that Tarlac’s measles cases this year were 1,700 percent higher than last year’s.
The report also noted five measles cases in Zambales, four in Aurora and two in Nueva Ecija. “Pampanga and Tarlac have a remarkable increase in the number of cases,” said the report.
It also confirmed three deaths arising from complications from measles including a year-old and a 10-month old babies in Sitio Sto. Nino in Bamban, Tarlalc, and a six-month old baby who died from sepsis related to measles. All the fatalities did not get measles vaccines.
The DOH also reported that 70 percent of the measles patients in Central Luzon were children five years old and below and that only five or 4.7 percent among the 106 cases had completed the required doses of measles vaccine. A total of 66 of the patients or 65 percent had no vaccination at all, it added.
The report also cited reasons cited for lack of measles vaccinations among the 106 patients. A total of 24.3 percent were not eligible as they were underaged; 5.8 percent cited inaccessible rural health unit; 4.6 percent cited sickness of child during slated vaccination dates; 3.5 percent cited fear of side effects; 3.5 percent cited forgetting vaccination schedule; 3.5 percent cited by mother; 2.3 percent cited contrary to belief; 1.1 percent simply refused; 1.1 percent cited unavailability of vaccine, and 20.3 percent cited no reason.
