Measles outbreak: 11 children killed, 59 confined

PALO, Leyte — Eleven children have died while 59 others were hospitalized after separate measles outbreak in two Samar villages, in Tacloban City and in two barangays of Babatngon, Leyte.

The Department of Health regional office here has reported 35 measles cases with seven deaths in Barangay Hitaasan I and Barangay Hitaasan II, both in the coastal town of San Sebastian, Samar.

Dr. Nicolas Bautista, chief of the DOH Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU), said that based on their monitoring of the other measles outbreak that occurred in Barangays Nagasaan and Biasong in Babatngon, Leyte, the death of a four-year-old boy was reported in Biasong. In Tacloban City, three persons have reportedly died out of the 14 persons who were hospitalized.

Following these three epidemic outbreak, the RESU found out that in Barangay Nagaasan, 10 measles cases had been reported from Dec. 5 to Jan. 8, and that the children that were afflicted with measles were found not having undergone anti-measles immunization.

In Barangay Biasong, 34 measles cases with one death had been reported from Oct. 27, to Jan. 14 and they were not immunized by anti-measles vaccine the findings said. In Barangays Hitaasan I and Hitaasan II, the DOH had reported 35 cases of measles with seven deaths.

Residents said they did not submit their children for immunization due to fear of side effects like their children contracting fever aside from the problem of health workers not regularly visiting their place. — Miriam Garcia Desacada