Due to the minimum health standards people have adopted to prevent acquiring the Covid-19, cases of most diseases under surveillance in the Cordillera have decreased this year.
Nurse Geeny Ann Austria of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Department of Health-CAR reported cases of diarrhea, acute viral hepatitis, viral hepatitis B and C, dengue, chikunggunya, hand foot and mouth disease, influenza-like illnesses, leptospirosis, typhoid fever, rabies, meningococcal disease, and bacterial meningitis have decreased, as well as vaccine-preventable diseases like acute encephalitis syndrome, acute placid paralysis, diphtheria, measles, and pertussis.
Austria said observing the minimum health standards have helped a lot in the prevention of transmission of other diseases due to control of movement.
“Our community has become more aware. This is the positive effect of Covid-19. Naging conscious tayo sa paghuhugas ng ating mga kamay at paglilinis ng ating paligid. We see to it we disinfect and have alcohol in our pocket. When people go home, they disinfect, so it has a big effect now in the spread of other diseases,” Austria said in a recent press conference.
She said there is still a need to look into some diseases that may be transmitted from person to person through droplets. “We have diseases that when a person is not mobile, we are able to interrupt its transmission, like measles, pertussis, and diphtheria.”
Aside from increased awareness, Austria said the decreasing trend of diseases may also be attributed to the fact that cases in a certain community have always been low, or there may have been some delay in getting medical attention from a health facility.
“But if we look into it, we have seen talagang mababa ang trend brought about by the lockdown and quarantine,” she said.
Despite the trend, leptospirosis cases increased in Apayao and Ifugao due to recent flooding particularly in Apayao, while there were cases of anthrax in Abra this year and none last year.
Austria said they are expecting to have leptospirosis cases in the coming days since signs and symptoms show two weeks after flooding. She urged concerned residents to be vigilant and watch out for the symptoms for immediate medical attention.
While measles cases also decreased, there are still laboratory confirmed cases of the illness, which is an indication there are members of the community who may still spread the disease.
“Our appeal is still for us to continue our vaccination even after the supplemental immunization recently. We are still doing our regular vaccination,” she said, especially so when they usually observe an increasing trend in measles cases after the holiday season due to people’s mobility.
“It’s not only Covid-19 that we wanted to prevent. We also want to prevent other diseases that could be transmitted through respiratory droplets or close interaction with our relatives, so as much as possible sana ang ipasalubong natin sa family members natin ay ang magandang health status. An important thing to note is kung may sakit tayo, we hope the disease already stops with us, hindi na tayo makapanghawa pa ng iba,” Austria said. – Hanna C. Lacsamana
