Being at the frontline in the fight against Pertussis or “whooping cough,” the Department of Health in Western Visayas (DOH-6) enjoined the support of all stakeholders to halt the further spread of the infection and the looming outbreak of the disease in the region.
At a press conference, National Immunization Program Regional Coordinator Dr. Jose Martin Atienza of DOH-6 noted that the agency’s Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit recorded a total of 89 pertussis cases in Western Visayas from January 1 to April 1 this year.
Of the said number, 22 are now laboratory-confirmed, some 46 cases are probable, and the remaining 21 are negative cases. Five deaths were also noted out of the total number of reported cases.
As of the aforementioned period, the province of Iloilo recorded the highest number of pertussis cases among provinces and highly-urbanized cities in the region, with 48 cases, followed by Iloilo City with 17, and Negros Occidental with eight cases.
With this, the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Iloilo City recently declared an outbreak and consequently put the city in a state of calamity.
Relative to the continuous rise in cases of pertussis in the region, Atienza pointed out that one of the primary reasons for this is the low immunization coverage among the target population in the region.
Per data, the immunization coverage of the region in 2023 only reached 61.36 percent or 98,795 children who received the routine dose of vaccines, which translates to the risk of children still accessing various vaccine-preventable diseases, including pertussis.
During the presser, various government agencies and health authorities of local government units (LGUs) and government-retained hospitals in the region, comprising the Regional Inter-agency Task Force (RIATF) for Infectious Diseases, were tapped to impart measures and programs being implemented to halt the further spread of the said infection.
Furthermore, the DOH-WV CHD, with the support of its partners and stakeholders, provided technical assistance, including capability-building activities, for health workers to improve their immunization program and the cold-chain management of vaccines. The health department in the region will also hold a series of town hall meetings with the health education and promotion officers of the LGUs and hospitals.
Recently, the member agencies and entities of the RIATF for Infectious Diseases convened virtually and signified a commitment to support the combat against pertussis.
Meanwhile, advocacy and information dissemination efforts are being led by the CHD’s Communication Management Unit through the release of various advisories, the conduct of pressers, and the online health talk shop MedCast.
The RESU with the help of the local health offices, on the other hand, strengthens its surveillance and reporting mechanisms through active case finding and retrospective record review, especially in areas with increasing pertussis cases.
Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna of the Iloilo City Health Office noted that they have already requested training from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine on testing pertussis to capacitate the personnel of the Iloilo City Molecular Laboratory and aid in the real-time confirmation of probable cases of the disease in the region.
Apart from these, Atienza further noted that the DOH-WV CHD, along with the LGUs, have already requested the DOH-Central Office to fast-track procurement of additional stocks of pentavalent vaccines in the region.
He added that all the vaccines in the region have already been allocated to the local health offices and rural health units since January of this year. These available vaccines are being utilized for the routine immunization of children aged six, ten, and fourteen weeks old.
In line with this, according to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-6) regional spokesperson lawyer, May Rago-Castillo, 98.27 percent of the young children among Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program families in the region are compliant with health interventions, particularly on vaccination.
This is equivalent to 64,986 young children aged zero to five years old, based on the data gathered by DSWD-6 from December 2023 to January 2024.
Likewise, the health authorities in the region emphasized the importance of being alert for signs and symptoms of the disease like mild cough and cold that usually last for two weeks, followed by outbursts of cough that could last up to six weeks, whooping sounds during inhalation, vomiting, and exhaustion. For infants, a low-grade fever may be experienced with a bluish skin color or cyanosis upon coughing.
If these are observed, the health department advises parents or guardians to seek consultation at the earliest onset of the signs and symptoms to prevent further complications and the spread of the infection.
Parents are also reminded of the protection of infants who are not yet eligible to receive vaccines by not exposing them to any individual manifesting pertussis-like signs and symptoms.
“The [DOH-WV CHD] together with the local government units and partners remind the public that we are on top of the situation and just like how we fought and survived the recent COVID-19 pandemic, with your cooperation and support, we will win this fight against pertussis,” stressed Atienza. (PIA-6)