BAGUIO CITY – Health authorities reported an increase in vaccine preventable diseases in the region this year compared to last year’s figures which warrants the conduct of aggressive vaccination to ensure the protection of the people from such illnesses.
Among the vaccine preventable diseases that increased this year include Measles/Rubella, Acute Flaccid Paralysis, Pertussis, and Non-neonatal Tetanus.
Measles is a known disease that causes fever, maculopapular rash, cough, coryza, and conjunctivitis. From January 1 to February 24, 2024, the distribution of Measles-Rubella cases presented a 100% increase in Baguio City and a 25% rise in Kalinga. Notably, all reported cases were males aged four months to 32 years old. The presented vaccination status also showed that 70% had received the MMR vaccine, while 30% were ineligible due to their age, from 4 months to 6 months.
Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP), a syndrome, was also part of their surveillance. It is when a child less than 15 years of age presents sudden floppy paralysis or muscle weakness of any part of the body. This can also be diagnosed as poliomyelitis. Therefore, according to Ms. Victoria L Malicdan, Sr. Health Program Officer of DOH-CAR, “Since polio po is for eradication worldwide, this is the key to detecting poliovirus and gusto nating i-prove na itong mga AFP cases natin ay hindi sila polio.” The distribution of cases is in Baguio City, with a nine-year-old female, and Bauko, Mountain Province, with an 11-year-old male. But both their results came back negative for the poliovirus.
For the Pertussis, commonly known as whooping cough, it had a sudden surge with 13 reported cases this year. It can also be transmitted through direct and indirect contact with the infected person. There are 9 or 69% cases from Baguio City and 4 or 31% from Benguet, with all results negative for Bordetella Pertussis. “Ang mga age ranges po ng mga kasong ito is 1 month to 38 years old. Yan po eh Female or 9 or 78% ang mostly affected sa kanila,” Ms. Malicdan reported.
Meanwhile, there is only one reported case of Non-Neonatal Tetanus. The surveillance outlined a case definition involving acute onset hypertonia, painful muscular contractions, and generalized muscle spasms without other apparent medical causes.
“As we can see from January 1 to February 24, 2023 and 2024. Lahat po ng ating vaccine-preventable diseases na surveillance diseases ay increased po,” Ms. Malicdan said, and she also emphasized the vital role of health workers and parents in promptly assessing such cases and preventing potential fatalities. She also urged parents to vaccinate their children and acknowledged the long-standing surveillance efforts and the need for increased awareness. “Sa mga may baby po diyan, nag-aalaga ng mga baby ito po yung ating mga bakuna at kung ano yung pwede nilang… to prevent… napreprevent na mga sakit.” she added as she presented the vaccines for these diseases and their schedule shots for children 1-year old and below.
The increase of number was evident compared to 2023. Some possible factors that might have caused this could be the shortage of vaccines last year and lack of compliance of some parents for the vaccinations. Ms. Malicdan further explained that “Although yung mga pinakita naman natin, mga suspek yung mga yun hindi pa naman sila confirmed measles, pertussis, parang meron lang sila nung mga signs and symptoms na yun pero ang kuwan nun kasi nga medyo nagkulang nga tayo ng bakuna last year pwede ring yun lang din yung reason.”
As the DOH-CAR continues to monitor these diseases through their surveillance, they are also providing free vaccines to health centers and conducting information education campaigns through their Facebook page to prevent these cases from increasing further. They also have a campaign on polio for vaccines, which will run from March to July this year. By Hazel Rose Infante
