War on worms

The health departments of Cebu’s local governments and barangay health centers have a new task before them with the report that half of Cebuanos play host to parasitic worms.

Dr. Vicente Belizario Jr. of the National Institute of Health (NIH), University of the Philippines Manila, supplied the figure in a meeting with Cebu city and provincial officials last Sunday.

The figure, which comes from a 2007 NIH research, exceeds the cap set by the World Health Organization, which envisions containing worm infestation at one out of every five persons.

One can only hope that the problem has not worsened in the years since the research.

Public health issues that normally made the headlines in recent years were about dengue, typhoid fever due to contaminated water, rabies and the human immuno deficiency virus or HIV.

In addressing these, did our health authorities inadvertently fail to address basic hygiene such that worms now reside in 50 percent of the population?

Children are the worst affected, says Dr. Belizario who pointed out that 90 percent of kids surveyed in sitio Alaska, barangay Mambaling are worm-infested.

In August, the Department of Health (DOH) will start handing out to elementary and high school kids free, candy-flavored chewable tablets that will kill and flush out worms.

This part of its “War on Worms” program needs to be supplemented by local health officials who must invigorate public hygiene and sanitation.

Information is key. Dr. Belizario said baseline data has yet to be obtained on the extent of the infestation of people across the province for authorities to respond accordingly. Research must be conducted swiftly.

In addition, people must be reminded to cook meat well or else get tapeworms by eating undercooked meat.

Water should be sterilized and food handled sanitarily since they attract roundworms that can end up in a person’s intestines.

People need to be careful with what they touch and keep their hands clean because pinworm eggs can be found anywhere and can enter the body through food or while one eats.

Depending on which type of worms infest the body, a person may experience nausea, weakness, diarrhea, stomach pain, hunger or loss of appetite, fatigue, weight loss and vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

We cannot let worms weaken people, our greatest resource as a nation.