CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Cases of dengue and measles continues to shoot up in Central Luzon as the Department of Health (DOH) here reported 1,390 cases of dengue and 408 cases of measles as of yesterday.
Gio Gueco, chief of the integrated disease surveillance and response unit of the Department of Health in Central Luzon, told Punto that Nueva Ecija had the most number of both dengue and measles incidents.
Gueco noted that the 1,390 dengue cases so far this year in the region is higher than the 419 such cases as of March, 2010.
Reports updated yesterday by the DOH regional office indicated 488 dengue cases in Nueva Ecija, 432 in Pampanga, 194 in Bataan, 129 in Tarlac, 76 in Zambales, and 71 in Bulacan. No case was reported in Aurora.
Dengue fatalities included three in Bataan, two each in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, and one each in Pampanga and Zambales.
Measles were reported to be most prevalent in Nueva Ecija with 243 cases, 40 in Zambales, 38 in Tarlac, 34 in Pampanga, 27 in Bulacan, 21 in Bataan, and five in Aurora. One death was noted in Pampanga, while health authorities in Bulacan earlier reported three deaths arising from measles among Dumagat folk in a remote area in Dona Remedios Trinidad.
DOH officials here expressed concern over the number of dengue cases, as he noted that the country has yet to enter the rainy season when the number of such cases usually peak arising from the prevalence of dengue-carrying Aedes Egypti mosquitoes which breed in pools of water.
DOH regional director Dr. Rio Magpantay said the measles situation in Carangglan, Lupao and San Jose City in Nueva Ecija has been placed under control.
Magpantay blamed the rising number of preventable measles cases on local government units which failed to immunize children despite free vaccines provided annually by the DOH.
“The vaccines are provided for free and the local government spends only for the syringes,” he said.
He said that teams from the DOH are on a door-to-door measles vaccination campaign in the region to track down children who have not been vaccinated especially those between six months to 15 months old.
Measles or tigdas is a respiratory infection caused by a virus which can be highly-contagious if treatment is delayed. It causes skin-rashes, induces flu-like symptoms such us running nose, coughing and fever, even as its more common serious and often fatal complications are pneumonia, diarrhea and encephalitis.
The measles virus is spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.
Gio Gueco, chief of the integrated disease surveillance and response unit of the Department of Health in Central Luzon, told Punto that Nueva Ecija had the most number of both dengue and measles incidents.
Gueco noted that the 1,390 dengue cases so far this year in the region is higher than the 419 such cases as of March, 2010.
Reports updated yesterday by the DOH regional office indicated 488 dengue cases in Nueva Ecija, 432 in Pampanga, 194 in Bataan, 129 in Tarlac, 76 in Zambales, and 71 in Bulacan. No case was reported in Aurora.
Dengue fatalities included three in Bataan, two each in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, and one each in Pampanga and Zambales.
Measles were reported to be most prevalent in Nueva Ecija with 243 cases, 40 in Zambales, 38 in Tarlac, 34 in Pampanga, 27 in Bulacan, 21 in Bataan, and five in Aurora. One death was noted in Pampanga, while health authorities in Bulacan earlier reported three deaths arising from measles among Dumagat folk in a remote area in Dona Remedios Trinidad.
DOH officials here expressed concern over the number of dengue cases, as he noted that the country has yet to enter the rainy season when the number of such cases usually peak arising from the prevalence of dengue-carrying Aedes Egypti mosquitoes which breed in pools of water.
DOH regional director Dr. Rio Magpantay said the measles situation in Carangglan, Lupao and San Jose City in Nueva Ecija has been placed under control.
Magpantay blamed the rising number of preventable measles cases on local government units which failed to immunize children despite free vaccines provided annually by the DOH.
“The vaccines are provided for free and the local government spends only for the syringes,” he said.
He said that teams from the DOH are on a door-to-door measles vaccination campaign in the region to track down children who have not been vaccinated especially those between six months to 15 months old.
Measles or tigdas is a respiratory infection caused by a virus which can be highly-contagious if treatment is delayed. It causes skin-rashes, induces flu-like symptoms such us running nose, coughing and fever, even as its more common serious and often fatal complications are pneumonia, diarrhea and encephalitis.
The measles virus is spread by coughing and sneezing, close personal contact or direct contact with infected nasal or throat secretions.
