ILOILO City – Western Visayas logged 25 confirmed cases of mosquito-borne disease Japanese encephalitis with four deaths from Jan. 1 to May 27 this year.
Of the 25, 12 came from Iloilo province, seven from Antique, five from Capiz, and one from Iloilo City, according to Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 director Dr. Adriano Suba-an.
The reported fatalities were all from Iloilo province, particularly from the towns of Leganes, Lemery, Barotac Nuevo, and Barotac Viejo.
DOH-6 data also showed that the 25 confirmed cases were part of the 256 suspected cases of acute meningitis encephalitis syndrome recorded since January this year.
As of this writing, the DOH-6 was still waiting for the laboratory test results of the remaining 163 suspected cases.
Data further showed that 156 or 61 percent of the suspected cases are male aged one to 77 years old with a median age of four years old.
The province of Capiz posted the highest positivity rate at 20 percent followed by Iloilo province at 15 percent and Antique at 9.5 percent.
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is transmitted to individual through the bite of an infected mosquito (Culex Tritaeniorhynchus), which belong to the family specie that carries the dengue virus.
Most infected individuals experience mild symptoms. In severe cases, the symptoms include fever, headache, and vomiting followed by disorientation, seizures, and coma.
Logistical and technical support
The DOH-6 has so far distributed logistics for vector control to all provinces and highly urbanized cities in the region.
These include 550 rolls of long-lasting insecticide treated screens; 4,480 nets of long-lasting insecticide treated nets; 1,480 sachets of indoor residual spray; 22,222 sachets of larvicides; and 259 insecticide bottles.
DOH-6 also provided technical assistance on vector control and surveillance, enhanced the acute meningitis encephalitis syndrome surveillance, and continued to strengthen the campaign of the 4S strategy.
The 4S strategy stands for search and destroy, self-protective measure, seek early consultation, and say yes to indoor residual spraying.
Suba-an urges everyone, especially parents with young children, to ensure the continuous practice of this strategy which has been effective against the dengue-carrying mosquitoes and Japan encephalitis-carrying mosquitoes./PN
