LUCENA CITY — The mayor of San Pascual town in Batangas province suspended school classes in seven barangays from Oct. 18 to 21 to prevent the spread of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD).
Municipal administrator Atty. Sherwin Gardner A. Barola was quoted in a news report on Oct. 17 that 100 students in the seven villages had been infected with HFMD and 56 of them had fever.
“As a proactive response, field investigation is being conducted by the Rural Health Unit San Pascual in coordination with DepEd (Department of Education) San Pascual to immediately trace HFMD cases, prevent its complications, and reduce transmission of infection through health awareness and health education campaigns,” Mayor Antonio Dimayuga said in his Executive Order No. 27 issued on Oct. 17, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer.
“There is a need to suspend classes for isolation, reporting, and monitoring of cases and facilitate disinfection and case investigation,” the order further stated.
Dimayuga ordered classes suspended in Pook ni Kapitan, Pook ni Banal, Resplandor, Natunuan North, Antipolo, Mataas na Lupa, and Sambat “due to the increasing cases of HFMD within areas of recorded clustering cases.”
The mayor urged public and private schools to clean and disinfect their premises during the suspension period.
HFMD is a common infectious disease that occurs most often in children, according to the World Health Organization. It affects mainly children and commonly spreads through direct contact with secretions, such as saliva, from infected people.
Symptoms include fever that may last 24 to 48 hours, painful mouth sores, and rashes and blisters on the hands, feet, and buttocks.
The Department of Health advised the public to strictly observe good hygiene, such as frequent hand washing, to reduce the risk of being infected.
San Pascual, which has 29 barangays, has a population of 69,000 as of the 2020 census.