ILOILO – Of the 43 local government units (LGUs) in the province, 40, including Passi City, recorded 2,407 cases of hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD).
Only Carles, Dingle and Guimbal have no cases.
The top 10 LGUs with the highest cases from Jan. 1 to Feb. 25 are the following: Santa Barbara (350), Alimodian (141), Leon (127), Calinog (126), Badiangan (120), Barotac Viejo (110), Passi City (92), Bingawan (90), Mina (90), and Banate (78).
These are the cases of the remaining towns: Dumangas (76), Sara (74), Tigbauan (72), Janiuay (71), Igbaras (69), Maasin (67), San Rafael (63), Pototan (63), Barotac Nuevo (55), Zarraga (52), Pavia (49), Lambunao (48), San Dionisio (48), Lemery (43), Miag-ao (43), Miag-ao (43), Oton (25), Cabatuan (24), Concepcion (23), Anilao (20), San Miguel (18), Ajuy (15), Tubungan (13), New Lucena (13), Batad (11), Balasan (nine), San Joaquin (nine), Dueñas (six), Leganes (two), San Enrique (one), and Estancia (one).
The 2,407 cases were 2,214 percent higher than the 104 cases recorded in the same period last year.
“Majority of the HFMD cases in the province were children aged one to 10 years old,” said Provincial Health Officer 1 Rodney Labis, chief of the Health Service Delivery Division of the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO).
HFMD is characterized by painful sores in the mouth and a rash on the hands and feet. Commonly caused by the Coxsackievirus, this contagious infection occurs mostly in children.
Here is the aggregate of cases per age group:
* Less than one year – 172 cases
* one to 10 years old – 2,178 cases
* 11 to 20 years old – 45 cases
* 21 to 30 years old – six cases
* 31 to 40 years old – five cases
* 41 years old and above – one case
“All 2,407 cases of the HFMD from Jan. 1 to Feb. 25 are tagged as recovered,” Labis said yesterday.
WHAT ACTIONS WERE TAKEN?
The IPHO and partner agencies such as LGUs, Department of Health, Department of Education, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office, and other key local stakeholders are working together to prevent and control of HFMD.
The intervention focuses mainly on health promotion to increase the awareness of the community for the prevention, early detection and effective disease surveillance for a timely and appropriate response by health offices.
HFMD may cause all of the following signs and symptoms or just some of them:
* fever
* sore throat
* feeling unwell
* painful, red, blister-like lesions on the tongue, gums, and inside of the cheeks
* a red rash, without itching but sometimes with blistering, on the palms, soles, and sometimes the buttocks
* irritability in infants and toddlers
* loss of appetite./PN
