DOH, LGUs intensify anti-measles campaign

Children inflicted with measles queue up at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila. The Department of Health declared Measles Outbreak with the increasing number of measles patients. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines –The Department of Health (DOH) has been actively coordinating with local government units to prevent the spread of measles in the country, Malacañang said Saturday.

Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said children with ages 9 to 11 months have been receiving the first dose of anti-measles vaccine and the second phase will be those who are 12 to 23 months old.

“One to two years old will be vaccinated by receiving the anti-measles booster. This has been done DOH, in cooperation with the local government units. In the city of Manila, the DOH has covered 148 barangay (villages) reaching to 21,560 children,” Valte said on radio.

She said children with ages not more than five years old were vaccinated.

The DOH, she said, also deployed mobile teams to conduct door-to-door vaccination to ensure that children ages nine months to five years old received the first dose of anti-measles vaccine.

The DOH warned that measles is a highly contagious viral disease transmitted through droplets from the nose, mouth or throat of infected persons.

The health department said among the symptoms of measles include eye redness, coughs and colds, high fever, rashes on the ears, face, neck, and the whole body, and difficulty of breathing.

Health officials said they were looking at a possible new strain of measles that caused the cases of the disease in Metro Manila.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said there was no specific treatment for measles and recovery may take two to three weeks.

Complications of measles, however, may result in blindness, diarrhea, pneumonia, encephalitis and ear infection that is why vaccine is available for children to prevent them from being infected, WHO said.