MANILA — Amid the recent reported outbreak of measles in a Taguig City barangay, Mayor Lani Cayetano urged parents to have their children vaccinated to give them protection against potentially fatal but preventable diseases.
“Rest assured that the city government is doing all it can for its constituents. I am also appealing to the residents to have their children immunized for a measles-free Taguig,” Cayetano said.
Cayetano issued the statement after Department of Health Undersecretary Enrique Domingo confirmed seven cases of measles in a barangay in Taguig City in the past two weeks.
He, however, declined to name the affected village.
Cayetano said the city health office’s medical personnel have been going door-to-door in the city’s barangays, conducting anti-measles immunization on children between 6 months and below 5 years old.
“These are given to the children even if they have already been immunized before,” she said.
She added that apart from the immunization programs, the city government has been intensifying its health education programs and active surveillance.
Domingo reminded the public that measles can be prevented by a vaccine.
“We should have zero case,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), measles is a highly infectious disease and remains one of the leading causes of death among young children globally.
It is caused by a virus that is passed through direct contact and through the air.
Its symptoms include high fever, runny nose, cough, red and watery eyes, and small white spots inside the cheeks. Rashes eventually appear, usually on the face and upper neck, and spread to the hands and feet.
The WHO said most measles-related deaths are caused by complications, the most serious of which include blindness, encephalitis or swelling of the brain, severe diarrhea and dehydration, ear infections, and severe respiratory infections, such as pneumonia.
“Unvaccinated young children are at highest risk of measles and its complications, including death,” it said, adding that the measles vaccine “has been in use for over 50 years and is safe, effective and inexpensive”.
A measles outbreak can be declared in areas where two or more cases are monitored. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
