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Saturday, February 07, 2004
DOH: 470 CAR barangay are malaria-endemic
MORE than 470 barangays in the Cordilleras were labeled as malaria-endemic areas even as health officials reported that they have tapped experts to study the rare occurrence of new strains of malaria in other areas in the region.
Years ago, More than 450,000 Cordillera residents, mostly children were reported to be suffering from malaria and the Department of Health-Cordillera Administrative Region (DOH-CAR) discovered that these malaria patients have developed a resistance to the first and second recommended medicines to cure malaria.
In a press conference Wednesday, Dr. Antonio Bautista, chief of the DOH-CAR Disease and Control Prevention Unit, said Apayao province recorded the most number of malaria patients.
Bautista added that the town of Conner in Apayao recorded the presence of plasmodium malariae, which according to him, is an acute form of malaria.
He said the DOH-CAR has tapped the services of the Center for Infectious Diseases of the University of the Philippines in Manila to help them investigate the rare occurrence of plasmodium malariae in Apayao. This acute form of malaria was only endemic in Palawan and Mindano before, said Bautista.
In 2001, more than 1,000 residents of Apayao or almost 70 percent of the province’ total population was reported to have suffered from malaria.
Bautista said the DOH-CAR already gathered blood stains from malaria patients in Kabugao, Apayao and Tabuk, all in Kalinga, and that these were already turned over to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for diagnosis. The findings of the RITM have yet to be released officially by the regional health office.
Malaria is an infectious disease caused by sporozoan parasites that are transmitted through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito, and whose patients show symptoms marked by paroxysms of chills and fever.
Meanwhile, the DOH-CAR Research Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit reported that malaria cases in the region dropped from more than 4,000 cases in 2002 to only a little more than 3,000 last year.
(February 6, 2004 issue)
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