Let kids undergo measles vaccination, parents urged

Despite the five percent reduction in measles cases in Davao region on January 1 to January 10 from the same period in 2018, Department of Health (DOH) 11 still urged parents to vaccinate their children.

DOH 11 regional director doctor Annabelle P. Yumang said during Kapehan sa Dabaw press conference on SM City Davao yesterday, February 11, that people should not be complacent about number of cases because they wanted to stop the transmission of measles as soon as possible.

In the latest data of DOH 11, Davao City has the highest cases with 53 cases followed by Davao del Sur (20 cases), Compostela Valley (seven cases), Davao del Norte (five cases) and Davao Oriental (one case). Two casualties were reported from Compostela Valley and Tibungco,Davao City.

Measles cases decreased in Davao Region compared to 2018 which was 347 cases due to their house to house immunization and untiring effort on campaign against measles.

“We have only a total of 53 cases in Davao City from first quarter [February 1 to 10] of 2019 compared to last year [2018] a total of 89 cases in Davao City alone,” she said.

An eight-month infant was the youngest who acquired measles while 76-year-old was the oldest that had measles.

Yumang added children who were not vaccinated are susceptible to measles.

However, she said that the cases that she mentioned were suspected measles since most of the symptoms were rash and fever. Measles can be identifying through blood test and oral pharyngeal examination.

She noted based on their house to house immunization, children were not able to be vaccinated due to some factors: A child was sick during the immunization, parents were too busy and they moved to another place. Dengvaxia was no longer mentioned in these said factors because the problem was already addressed.

Yumang said there were no areas in the region that declared an outbreak.