BACOLOD City – The City Health Office (CHO) has recorded four suspected cases of pertussis, or whooping cough.
The specimens of the four patients will be sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Metro Manila for confirmatory tests, according to CHO Environment Sanitation Division chief Dr. Grace Tan.
The CHO said three patients are from this capital city and the other one from Negros Occidental.
Tan said the patients, who are six weeks to two months old, are currently admitted at the hospitals in this city.
Pertussis is highly contagious respiratory disease and children are especially vulnerable to the infection.
The symptoms can be mild for adults, however it can become severe among infants and young children.
Infection can be acquired primarily through direct contact with discharges from the respiratory mucus membranes of infected persons.
Tan urged parents to have their children, especially those below five years old, vaccinated against pertussis.
The barangay health workers (BHWs), meanwhile, are now conducting a mapping in order to know the number of children for catch-up vaccination.
Tan said the pentavalent vaccine protects children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, influenza type B, and hepatitis B.
Earlier, Singcang-Airport village chief Caesar Distrito, the spokesperson of Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, said the CHO is ready to respond to an outbreak although it is not seen at this point.
He added that Bacolod is one of the recipients of the vaccine supply from the national government to prevent the further transmission of pertussis./PN
