BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera office of the Department of Health (DOH-CAR reported a fifty six percent increase in the number of typhoid cases recorded regionwide from January to September 10, 2016 compared to the reported cases during the same period last year.
Dra.Amelita M. Panglilinan, DOH-CAR assistant regional director, added the number of deaths due to typhoid cases for both periods did not increase considering that there were two reported deaths for the reckoning periods.
Apayao registered the highest increase in typhoid cases at 254 percent with 138 cases this year compared to the 39 cases last year followed by Ifugao which recorded a 215 percent increase with 129 cases this year compared to the 41 typhoid cases this year.
Further, Kalinga posted a 137 percent increase in typhoid cases with 235 cases this year compared to the 99 cases last year while Benguet reported the least increase at 109 percent with 1,582 cases this year compared to the 758 cases last year.
On the other hand, Abra reported the highest decrease in typhoid cases at 36 percent with only 48 cases this year compared to the 75 cases last year, followed by Baguio City that posted a 31 percent decrease with 164 cases this year compared to the 237 cases last year while Mountain Province registered he least decrease at 13 percent with 406 cases this year compared to the 465 cases last year.
Pangilinan revealed yphoid cases from non-CAR areas who were treated in the different hospitals in the region also decreased by 9 percent with 39 cases reported this year compared to the 43 cases last year.
According to her, the age range of the typhoid fever victims is from one month old to 93 years old while there were more females representing 50.1 percent of the victims were more affected by the virus.
The DOH-CAR official disclosed the two fatalities that were reported were a 71-year old female from Sadanga, Mountain Province and a 33-year old male from Tuba, Benguet.
She added clustering of typhoid fever cases were reported in Pudtol, Apayao; Atok, Bokod, Buguias, Kabayan. Kibungan, La Trinidad, Benguet; Tinoc, Ifugao; Tabuk city, Kalinga; Besao, Sagada, Mountain Province.
Pangilinan explained typhoid fever is a systematic bacterial disease with insidious onset of sustained fever, severe headache, malaise, anorexia, splenomegaly, non-productive cough in the early stage of the illness, and constipation more often than diarrhea in adults.
She claimed the disease is transmitted by food and water contaminated by feces and urine of patients and carriers.
Among the actions taken by the DOH-CAR include the massive information and education campaign by providing the copy of the weekly morbidity reports to provincial epidemiology and surveillance units and provincial district hospitals; provided the said offices with the required regional Microsoft access database file per province and city for notification of captured cases, facilitate the sending of specimens for laboratory tests and followed up laboratory results for consolidation.
By HENT
