DOH warns public vs Japanese encephalitis
The Department of Health (DOH) is advising the public to take the necessary precautions against Japanese encephalitis.
Patients afflicted with Japanese encephalitis suffer from fever, headache, vomiting, confusion and difficulty in moving. The infection causes swelling around the brain and subsequently results in the patient going into a comatose state.
Health experts said it usually takes five to 15 days for Japanese encephalitis symptoms to develop.
The rainy season is the peak time of Japanese encephalitis and other mosquito-borne diseases like dengue.
The DOH is urging the public to intensify mosquito elimination measures to combat Japanese encephalitis, saying vaccination is not proven effective if done during its peak season.
As of Aug. 26, the DOH-Epidemiology Bureau has recorded 133 cases nationwide – 44 percent lower compared to the same period last year.
Most of the cases this year were in Central Luzon.
Although there is no surge in JE cases this year, Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial said the public should take preventive measures against it and other mosquito-borne diseases like dengue.
The strategy includes “getting rid of stagnant water, maintaining environmental cleanliness and eliminating potential breeding places of mosquitoes not only within our homes, but in the entire community,” Ubial noted.
Other measures, she said, include “wearing protective clothing such as long sleeves and pants or socks to avoid mosquito bites, using mosquito nets at night or even at daytime or stay in mosquito-protected places like screened homes and using (Food and Drug Administration)-approved insect repellents.”
She also underscored the need to see a doctor if there is a fever for two days or flu-like symptoms.
The hallmark of Japanese encephalitis prevention, like dengue, should focus on identification and destruction of mosquito breeding sites and environmental cleanliness, the DOH chief said.
Despite the downward trend, Ubial said the DOH intends to include the vaccine for the potentially deadly infection in the government’s regular immunization program starting next year.
The health chief stressed that prevention is more cost effective.
Meanwhile, the Pangasinan Provincial Health Office is still validating a report about a girl from Sison town who reportedly died of Japanese encephalitis earlier last week.
Provincial health officer Anna Ma. Teresa de Guzman told The
STAR on Thursday they were still investigating the report, with a team sent to the barangay where the casualty came from.
The team is trying to trace the hospital where the victim died, De Guzman said.
De Guzman declined to give the identity of the victim for fear that people might be frightened and would distance themselves from the victim’s family.
The mother of the victim said in an interview with Bombo Radyo Dagupan that her child was feeling weak on Wednesday but still went to school on Thursday. The child developed a fever in the afternoon and vomited.
The child died in a government hospital in San Fernando City, La Union where she was transferred, according to the mother.
She said four doctors attended to her child and the lead doctor told her it was Japanese encephalitis that caused the death.