ILOILO City – The ongoing community quarantine due to coronavirus disease 2019 may have helped reduce cases of measles in Western Visayas.
The Department of Health (DOH) recorded 56 measles cases this year since January – a sharp drop from the 3,312 measles cases in 2019.
“The community quarantine limited the mobility and interaction of people. Since mostly ara sila sa sulod sang balay, virus transmission from one person to another stopped or slowed down,” said Dr. Daphynie Teorima, head of DOH Region 6’s Expanded Immunization Program.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases in the world. Signs and symptoms include high-grade fever, rashes, cough, and eye infection.
Measles can lead to complications such as pneumonia, ear infection, blindness, severe diarrhea, and swelling of the brain.
Here are the Region 6 areas with measles cases this year:
* Antique – 23
* Negros Occidental – 15
* Bacolod City – nine
* Iloilo province – eight
* Aklan – one
On the other hand, the provinces of Capiz and Guimaras and Iloilo City recorded zero measles cases since January.
In 2019, all provinces and the two highly urbanized cities in Western Visayas recorded measles cases: Aklan (177), Antique (366), Capiz (288), Guimaras (39), Iloilo province (1,207), Negros Occidental (825), Bacolod City (228), and Iloilo City (182).
Various degrees of community quarantine have been imposed on Region 6 since March this year to address the coronavirus disease pandemic.
“One measles case puede maka-infect sang 12 to 18 persons. With the community quarantine, tanan sa balay lang. This stopped the transmission,” said Teorima.
But the doctor stressed that community quarantine is just a short-term solution to the spread of measles; the long-term solution is preferred – vaccination.
DOH will launch a nationwide vaccination drive against measles, rubella and polio (supplemental immunization) beginning Feb. 21, 20201. In Region 6, the targets are 770,279 children./PN
