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Friday, April 22, 2005
4 confirmed blood infection cases recorded
By Rimaliza Opiña
BAGUIO CITY -- Health officials reported Thursday four new cases of the infectious blood disease that has been plaguing this city since last year but said there has been no fatality yet.
The Department of Health (DOH) said the town of Itogon in Benguet recorded two confirmed cases while Baguio and nearby La Trinidad had one each from April 10 to 16.
The DOH reported 109 confirmed cases, 12 of which died, of meningococcemia from September 2004 to the present in the Cordillera Region.
DOH Regional Director Myrna Cabotaje said all confirmed cases since the lifting of the meningococcemia alert last January are primary sources, which means the disease was not acquired from close contacts.
Dr. Antonio Bautista, head of the DOH Infectious Disease Cluster, added the four patients are still recovering and are being tightly watched.
Cabotaje and Bautista downplayed reports the continuing occurrence of meningococcemia, an acute infection of the bloodstream caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitides, could be caused by the ongoing burning of garbage at the Irisan dumpsite.
Engineer Rolando Reyes, chief of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) Pollution Control Division, had said the thick smoke emanating from the dumpsite is affecting the overall air quality of the city.
He added the thick smoke ensuing from the dumpsite for more than a month now already found its way to the central business district. He warned that if the City Government fails to douse the smoke, Baguio residents could suffer from various forms of respiratory illnesses.
Bautista explained a lowered resistance remains to be the main reason for acquiring not only meningococcemia but other illnesses. He said the breathing in of smoke coming from the dumpsite could be an indirect cause because constant exposure to polluted air weakens the respiratory system.
Neisseria meningitides is bacteria that frequently live in a person's throat, without evidence of illness, until some event like low resistance is thought to trigger their aggressive behavior.
The cold climate in the region is also another indirect cause.
Cabotaje said the erratic weather condition especially in Baguio may have contributed to an individual's lowered resistance, but said all these remain as theories because until now, health experts from both the DOH and private practice are still in the process of establishing the reason or reasons behind the sudden increase of meningococcemia cases in Baguio starting late last year.
(April 22, 2005 issue)
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