Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said yesterday that they are “closely monitoring” the cases of leptospirosis in the country in order to determine if there is a need to declare an outbreak.
“It is a bit technical. Before you can say that there is an outbreak you compare with the incidence of lepto (leptospirosis) over the last five years plus two standard deviations. And if you hit [or] exceed it, then that triggers DoH to declare an outbreak,” said Duque during a press briefing at the East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City.
“I hope it does not happen, but we are monitoring closely,” he added.
The health chief said that they are expecting additional cases of leptospirosis in the coming days.
“The picture here is, as long as the rainy days are here, then we will expect additional cases of leptospirosis,” he said.
Duque said that a total of 261 leptospirosis cases has been recorded in the National Capital Region as of July 1.
Majority of the cases came from Quezon City with 97, followed by Manila with 29 cases, Taguig City with 26 cases, Parañaque City with 20 cases, and Caloocan City with 18. Meanwhile, 40 deaths has been recorded in the metropolis.
Recently, the DoH bared that there is 1,040 cases nationwide with 93 deaths recorded.
“Next Friday, we will be able to give a comparative number of cases across the Philippines,” said Duque.
Meanwhile, Duque has urged the local government officials to step up the collection of garbage in their areas to prevent the increase of leptospirosis cases.
“You can see in some certain areas masama ang collectiom ng garbage. It’s not regular. That is why, we are stressing; it has to be regular collection/disposal, otherwise, iyan ang puntahan ng mga daga at iyan ang magkakalat ng leptospirosis or the leptospira bacteria,” said Duque. (Analou de Vera)
Duque then advised the local officials to do the “R.I.DE.” or R-Rodent Control, I-improve the flood control program, D-drain potentially contaminated water, and E-effective enforcement of garbage collection.
“Ang sakit po na ito ay madaling iwasan at madali ang gamutan. Pero kinakailangan na ang mga pasyente ay alerto… mataas ang kamalayan. Sa ganitong panahon na patuloy ang pag ulan, binabaha ang mga lugar dapat alerto,” the health chief reminded.
