Viral illnesses still high in Iloilo in 2020

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

 

Cases of viral infections in Iloilo province were high in 2020, despite a drastic drop in one of these illnesses and an uptick in another, according to the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO) on Tuesday.

Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon, IPHO officer-in-charge, discussed the status of dengue, leptospirosis, and measles with the media on Jan 12, 2021.

Dengue saw a significant decrease of about 97 percent, to 694 cases in 2020 from 22,132 in 2019, and only 2 deaths last year from 78 in 2019.

Children aged 1 to 10 years accounted for majority of dengue cases in the province with 283, followed by 11 to 20-year-olds (177), 21 to 30 years old (86), and the remaining cases for older age groups.

The top 10 local government units in the province with dengue cases in 2020 were Estancia, Carles, Balasan, Sara, Ajuy, Batad, San Dionisio, Calinog, Oton, and Dumangas.

Quiñon said the figures bolstered their theory that keeping the number of cases low would mean lower deaths.

She attributed the concentration of cases in towns in the fifth district to Typhoon Ursula which brought rains in the last days of 2019.

 

“We have proven that when cases are low, the chances of deaths will also be lower, but when cases are high, more will also die from dengue. On December 25, 2019, there was a typhoon in the fifth district, and the breeding places may have been increased there and continued into 2020,” Quiñon said.

 

The drop in cases, according to her, is a result of the provincial government’s aggressive campaigns against dengue, such as information drives and the Limpyo Iloilo clean-up drive which commenced in February 2020.

She added that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which urged the provincial government to mandate residents to stay at home, may have also been beneficial.

 

“We can also not discount that we have had an aggressive campaign against dengue. Plus COVID, people now have more time to clean their homes and their communities because they had been under quarantine, so they would be able to trace if there are breeding places there, and they can immediately correct and contain them,” she said.

 

Despite these encouraging numbers, the provincial health chief said that the IPHO “will not be complacent” as they still expect dengue cases to rise within these next two years.

 

“In 2019, there was an outbreak which caused the levels to reach 22,000. It was expected the following year to drop. We are expecting that in 2021 and 2022, the cases will still rise. The cycle of dengue usually rises every three years, there were remnants in 2019 that’s why they decreased. We cannot be complacent, but we can prevent it by continuing the practice of an aggressive Limpyo Iloilo. It will not reach 21 to 22,000 but it will be high compared to 2020,” said Quiñon.

 

 

LEPTOSPIROSIS, MEASLES

While the efforts against dengue are on the more positive side, other viral infections such as leptospirosis and measles remained high in Iloilo province.

From only 3 cases in 2019, a 1,400 percent increase was noted in leptospirosis cases in 2020 with 45 cases including 3 deaths in Miag-ao, Estancia and Calinog towns.

The top 10 LGUs with leptospirosis cases were Balasan with 8 cases, Lambunao and Banate with 4 cases each, Carles, San Enrique, and Passi City with 3 cases each, and Tubungan, Miag-ao, Guimbal, and Estancia with 2 cases each.

Quiñon said most of the cases were farmers who waded in muddy waters, as well as those affected by the flooding last year.

She reminded persons who waded in floodwaters, especially farmers, to avail of free prophylaxis from rural health units (RHUs).

As to measles cases in the province last year, 119 “suspected” cases were recorded with 36 cases that were later “confirmed”.

Most of these confirmed cases, according to the IPHO’s data, are aged 21 to 30 years, followed by younger age groups of 9 to 11 years, 1 to 5 years, and 6 to 10 years.

Suspected measles cases are those who show the common “3C” symptoms—cough, coryza (runny nose), and conjunctivitis, together with fever and rashes.

They are taken to the RHUs where their sample blood serum is taken for confirmatory testing at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Muntinlupa City.

The remaining “suspected” cases were either confirmed as rubella or discarded because these may only be Systemic Viral Infections (SVI), according to Quiñon.

She was not able to present comparisons to the status of measles cases in the province in 2019.

She said that most likely, those infected with measles were children who were missed during the immunization programs.

She added that most likely there were no herd immunity in their barangays, where the IPHO has a target of 95 percent of the young population who should be vaccinated.

The IPHO will implement a month-long free vaccination campaign in February 2021 against measles, rubella, and polio.

Schedules in barangays will be handled by local midwives, nurses, and doctors.

Quiñon said that the IPHO has a vaccination target of 200,000 infants aged 9 months to 59 months, or below 5 years, for measles, while the target for polio is from 0 months up to 59 months.

She said that she hopes to also meet the herd immunity target of 95 percent of young people per barangay.

“If there is herd immunity, if 95 percent of youth in a barangay are vaccinated, and an outsider enters but the young ones are covered or immunized, the chances are only one or two out of 10 will be infected. But if there is no herd immunity, up to 8 [out of 10] will be infected,” Quiñon said.

She also assured that the vaccines are safe, personnel are well-trained for vaccination, and PPEs, face shields, face masks, and gloves will be used to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

 

 

COVID-19

Quiñon also presented the current status of COVID-19 in the province.

As of Jan 11, 2021, Iloilo province has 3189 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 95 COVID-19 deaths based on their death certificates.

28 new cases were reported on Jan. 11.

Most of the new cases are from Passi City, which also has the most number of active cases with 85, with many clustered cases especially from Brgy. Poblacion Ilawod.

The top ten LGUs in the province based on total number of cases as of Jan. 11 are Oton with 365 cases, Pavia (279), Passi City (256), Guimbal (141), Pototan (129), Sta. Barbara (127), Cabatuan (122), Tigbauan (109), Miag-ao (99), and San Joaquin (93).

The “bottom four” towns are Badiangan (16), Mina (14), Bingawan (13), and San Rafael (6).

Only Mina has one active case, while the rest have no active cases.

Other towns in the province with no active COVID-19 cases as of Jan 11 are Batad, Balasan, Dueñas, New Lucena, Estancia, Janiuay, Lemery, Carles, Barotac Viejo, and Lambunao.