By Paulo Loreto Lim

Following news of a measles outbreak in Negros Oriental, Department of Health (DOH) provincial chief, Dr. Socrates Villamor, called the number of cases “minimal.”

He explained, the local DOH is currently looking at 21 cases across the province; however, with an ongoing national campaign seeking to declare the country “measles-free,” every “laboratory-confirmed” case is currently considered an “outbreak.”

Villamor believes the measles cases in the province may have been sparked by children who were not immunized or whose immunizations were “incomplete.”

“We want to cut the transmission [of measles] as much as possible,” he affirmed. “We are still trying to get some more data.”

Aside from Negros Oriental, DOH earlier declared three other areas in the country under a measles outbreak./PLL, WDJ