DOH warns of rising TB cases among WV kids

I L OI L O C i t y – The Department of Health (DOH) is calling on parents to submit their kids to vaccination to prevent diseases such as meningitis and disseminated or widespread tuberculosis (TB).

DOH Region 6 Senior Health

Program Officer Christine Mosqueda said Western Visayas recorded 1,134 TB cases among children in 2021; 782 in 2020; and 1,488 in 2019.

“Our target supposedly for the number of children to be detected is 12 percent of the total TB cases notified,” she said.

In 2021, they achieved only three percent of the 12 percent target from implementers on the ground.

She added they could not categorically state if TB incidence in the region, which covers zero to 14- year- old kids as per the TB program, is alarming.

However, there are missing cases of undiagnosed or unreported that could have infected others, or worsened.

Mosqueda added that due to the stigma brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID- 19), people tend to hide when they have cough, a symptom of both TB and COVID-19.

I n a DOH presser on Monday, pediatrician Dr. Jerrymae Blasurca said TB vaccine bacille Calmette

Guerin ( BGC) that is given at birth helps prevent the disease.

“B C G p r e v e n t s t h e severe type, particularly TB meningitis. There is a 70 percent chance of death once a child has TB meningitis,” she said.