By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
Dengue fever
Negros Oriental province health authorities report the number of dengue cases continue to rise.
Dr. Socrates Villamor, the DOH provincial chief, said as of August 17, their records show a total of 2,823 cases reported in the province since January 1 this year.
This is 209 percent higher compared with figures from the same period of last year, which recorded only 915 cases and six deaths.
Majority of the cases were from Dumaguete, followed by Mabinay, Bayawan City, Siaton and Sibulan.
Nationally, the cumulative number of dengue cases from January 1 to August 3 stands at 188,562. More than 800 fatalities have been reported.
In related news, Senator Richard Gordon called on the country to be the “dengue research Capital”.
“We should be the dengue research capital of the world. We should make the Philippines a fortress against dengue,” Gordon said in a speech last week.
“It is a golden opportunity to use it as research. We want to be able to learn from this research in this country where dengue is endemic. Let the government in this dark moment be a beacon of hope for dengue, for ourselves, for the world,” he said.
Gordon said the government “could set up the most advanced research and development program and testing facilities for dengue specialists in anticipation of the next dengue epidemic, which occurs in a cycle of three to five-year intervals.”
Lastly, after calls from patient’s organizations to lift the ban on Dengvaxia, The Department of Health (DOH) said it denied the appeal of Sanofi Pasteur, Inc. to reverse the ruling of the Food and Drug Administration to permanently ban the use of Dengvaxia in the country.
In a statement on Thursday, DOH Sec. Francisco Duque III said it upheld FDA’s action on Sanofi’s “continued failure to submit post-approval requirements” of the anti-dengue vaccine.
“The decision concerns Sanofi’s complete disregard of FDA regulations, which were precisely put in place by law to ensure safety,” Duque said.
Measles
A measles outbreak in a barangay in Mati City, Davao Oriental left two one-year old kids dead. In a statement from the Mati City information Office (CIO), Purok Gemelina in Barangay Don Salvador Lopez recorded 24 measles cases which infected individuals wherein two kids did not survive.
The City Health Office (CHO) says that there are about 5,000 individuals living in the said barangay. About 483 are residing in Purok Gemelina where about 78 of the residents belong to a religious group which is said to be against seeking medical treatment of any kind.
Of the 24 cases, 22 are said to be members of the said group.
Nationally, there have been at least 34,950 measles cases—and 477 deaths from the disease—since the beginning of the year.
African Swine fever
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Thursday said the government should come up with mitigation measures to prevent a “financial disaster” in the event of a possible outbreak of the African swine fever (ASF) in the country.
In a statement, Recto said the PHP280 billion a year hog industry deserves calamity aid in the event of a local outbreak.
On Aug. 16, the Department of Agriculture received an incident report from our Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) on an increased mortality of pigs raised by farmers in their backyards.
To date, the cause of a recent spike in pig mortality in the Philippines has not been announced.
