Koronadal City—More teenagers were affected with measles or commonly known as tipdas in South Cotabato according to Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit.
As of March 11, PESU confirmed the 51 cases were aged 16 years old and above, comprising the 44 percent of the total number of infected population.
The PESU report said 78 of the 117 suspected measles cases were not vaccinated with anti-measles vaccine during their childhood.
In one week time, 19 cases were added to the surveillance report. All patients were admitted.
More cases were seen in the towns of POlomolok (65), Banga (9) and the City of Koronadal (16). In Polomolok, measles was clustering in the barangays of Cannery Site, Crossing Palkan, Glamang, Koronadal Proper, Poblacion, Magsaysay, Pagalungan, Upper Klinan, and Polo.
Dr. Rogelio Aturdido, Provincial Health Officer, personally monitors Barangay Health Stations in the province to supervise the measles immunization.
“We have visited the barangays in Tampakan while the rest of the technical team went to other towns to join the immunization activity,” Aturdido said.
All towns in South Cotabato conducted a massive measles immunization to ensure the strain of measles virus was contained.
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by a virus. Symptoms develop 10-12 days after a person is exposed to an infected person. At first, a person experiences fever and cough. After three days, a red rash appears on the face and slowly spread to the rest of the body in the next five days.
The health team vaccinates six-month-old babies to five years old children. A booster vaccine is given to a child who has already received his first dose of vaccine.
