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Thursday, January 27, 2005
Baguio system to control blood illness hailed
BAGUIO CITY -- An epidemiology expert said Wednesday the handling by health authorities in Baguio City of recent meningococcemia cases has been effective and will be used as a model health response system.
"We are documenting this (system) and we will make (it) as a model," Dr. Marlou Ninal of the National Epidemiology Center told local and health officials in a meeting with businessmen following the lifting Monday of the alert on the disease in the city.
"(The health response system) was very good (as) everything was already (in place to prevent transmission of the disease) when we came," Ninal said. "It means that our operations center was that effective," he added during the meeting at Camp John Hay.
Everyone learned from Baguio's experience, said Dr. Luningning Villa, who served as spokesperson of the joint Department of Health (DOH)-local government operations center. The center was tasked to control the spread of meningococcemia, an acute infection of the bloodstream, in the city.
"I would like to think that we were able to help manage the operations center, with the city, DOH and the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center having done so much."
The epidemiology experts' interest in adopting the Baguio system was anchored on medical advisories that meningococcemia can occur anywhere as a certain percentage of the human population are carriers of the bacteria that cause the ailment.
Dr. Eric Bertherat of the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO) told city and health officials that a meningocococcal disease "can happen anywhere", noting that suspected cases were also being reported outside Baguio and the Cordillera region.
A mengingococcal disease is any of the illnesses caused by the meningococcus now known as the Neisseria meningitides. These illnesses could include meningococcemia, meningitis, pneumonia and a form of arthritis.
A healthy person could be a carrier of N. meningitides, which lives in an individual's upper respiratory tract and is transmitted through droplets released when a person coughs or sneezes, without getting sick of a meningococcal infection.
"It's not an emerging disease, not Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), not avian flu, but like any disease (which) we have to be vigilant (against)," Bertherat said, adding that "we used to manage outbreaks all over the world".
"This is my first time to manage in so such a comfortable atmosphere," he pointed out, noting, "Baguio is definitely one of the nicest destinations in the Philippines."
He said there is no specific risk in traveling to Baguio or in any other place.
With the lifting of the alert here, Mayor Braulio Yaranon issued during the meeting a three point advisory: Baguio is back to normal, the city is as safe as the rest of the country and that this mountain resort still stands as the best destination.
"We assure visitors that it is safe to attend conferences and similar activities here as Baguio is as safe as any other place in the Philippines and that our city is still the best place to visit," Yaranon said.
He thanked the health workers and the experts, together with the various sectors of the city for making the anti-meningococcemia drive "a community effort", saying the system in combating the ailment "can be copied anywhere because of its effectiveness".
Ninal stressed that the Baguio experience underscored the critical role of a very strong health surveillance system and the need for more "disease detectives" such as those in the staff of Dr. Florence Reyes, the city health officer.
Vice Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. said this was precisely the reason why the City Council recently approved the creation of the City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit as a permanent division of the Baguio Health Department, together with the purchase of laboratory equipment to easily detect meningococcemia and other diseases.
Health Secretary Manual Dayrit, DOH-Cordillera Director Teresita Bonoan and Villa announced the lifting of the meningococcemia alert here in simultaneous press briefings early Monday afternoon.
Bonoan also attributed the effectiveness of the health reaction system on the cooperation of the various agencies and the residents of the city.
"With this good news, we can now prepare for the Baguio Flower Festival," noted Department of Tourism Regional Director Pura Molintas, who, together with Councilor Pinky Rondez, initiated a recovery program dubbed "Bloom, Baguio, Bloom".
The mayor, together with city tourism officer Benedicto Alhambra, will lead city officials in launching this morning the 10th edition of the flower festival which Yaranon earlier announced will go on as scheduled in February and March.
The launching will be done through the weekly "Kapihan sa Baguio" at the foyer of the CAP Building of Camp John Hay, according to according to Heinrich Maulbecker, manager of The Manor. (Ramon Dacawi)
(January 27, 2005 issue)
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