THE comprehensive implementation of early fever surveillance in the City of San Fernando has led to zero deaths related to the mosquito-borne Japanese Encephalitis (JE) disease.
City Health Officer Dr. Eloisa Aquino said that only five confirmed cases were reported by the City Health Office (CHO) from 2018 to February this year, and all of them were successfully treated.
Aquino credited the positive development to the strict pre-emptive monitoring of the City Epidemiology Unit in communities where children showing symptoms of JE have successfully prevented the worsening of their cases.
“Every day, our rural health workers check on the situation of children in their areas. They visit schools and go to house-to-house to account for children showing early symptoms such as fever and immediately refer them to the rural health unit or nearest hospital,” she said.
Highest JE cases
Aquino said that this capital city was reported as one of the areas that recorded the highest number of suspected JE cases in the country.
However, she said that the huge number of reported JE cases here can also be credited to the comprehensive surveillance and early detection activities conducted by the CHO.
“We registered the highest number of reported JE cases because we immediately account for those who show JE symptoms. But reported cases, meaning patients are only suspected to have acquired the disease, are different from the confirmed cases, wherein we only recorded five,” she stressed.
Due to the implementation of early fever surveillance, the CHO was able to prevent the aggravation of the disease in a patient which may lead to serious complications and even death.
To ensure protection of children from the JE disease, Aquino said that the Department of Health launched a mass JE vaccination for some 34,000 children from this capital city to be carried out for the whole month of March.
She said that this capital city was chosen as the pilot beneficiary of the said vaccine in the country.