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Saturday, June 04, 2005
Journalist succumbs to malaria in US
MANILA -- Reyster Langit, son of broadcaster Rey Langit, died early Friday morning in the US due to heart failure.
Reyster was hospitalized in Los Angeles for cerebral malaria. His death was announced by his father in an early morning television show.
"Despite early findings that his liver, kidney and lungs were okay, it was his heart that gave way," the elder Langit said over the television show "Unang
Hirit" of GMA 7.
Reyster's death came a few days after his cameraman Arnold Tañare and their guide, broadcast journalist Christian Macadaeg, succumbed to cerebral malaria.
With the death of 33-year-old Reyster, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the team of health experts from the Center for Health Development will all the more look into the cause of the deaths. The three were doing a documentary on the Tau't Bato tribe in Palawan when they fell ill.
Duque advised the public to take the necessary precautions to prevent contracting malaria by taking prophylaxis before going to a malaria-endemic area, adding the government has intensified its campaign but "the success of the programs remains dependent on the compliance of the people".
Duque said an average of three Filipinos die daily due to malaria despite government's intensified efforts to control the occurrence of the ailment,
He, however, said there is no cause for alarm because contracting malaria can be prevented by taking prophylaxis or anti-malaria drugs and cleaning one's surroundings.
"Malaria is controllable and preventable disease," said Duque, adding that compared to dengue, malaria has a longer incubation period and can be treated immediately after detection.
Citing data of the Department of Health (DOH) in 2003, Duque said of the 588,836 suspected malaria cases in the country that year, there were 47,677 confirmed cases with about 162 deaths.
Another set of data from 1999 to 2000 showed that 25 provinces were under Category A or places where cases of malaria are high. Of the 25 provinces, the five top provinces with a high number of malaria cases were Palawan, Apayao, Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and Quirino.
Twenty-two provinces were in Category B where 100 to 1,000 malaria cases every year were recorded while 18 provinces were in Category C where there were less than 100 cases yearly.
Provinces that are malaria-free are Cebu, Bohol, Catanduanes, Aklan, Capiz, Guimaras, Siquijor, Biliran, Iloilo, Nothern Leyte, Leyte Sur, Camiguin and Northern Samar.
He said the morbidity rate is at 60 per 100,000 while the fatality rate for untreated cases is at 20 percent and the mortality rate is 0.2 percent per 100,000. (MSN/Sunnex Luzon)
(June 4, 2005 issue)
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