DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The Davao City Health Office is conducting an outbreak response immunization (ORI) activity in several barangays here contain a possible measles outbreak.
The move came after the report last week of measles cases of at least 16 call center workers from two call center companies.
Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, head of the Davao City Health Office (CHO), said they were concerned that the cases of measles among call center workers would lead to an outbreak and affect children.
She said a single case of measles can potentially lead into an outbreak ”given the highly infectious nature of the virus”.
“We decided to immediately conduct the ORI because children are the most vulnerable ones in times of measles outbreak. We intend to cover the entire city to ensure that the children are safe and protected,” Villafuerte said.
More than 6,000 children were already vaccinated in a span of two days.
From November 2017 to January 12 this year, the CHO recorded a total of 222 cases of measles,with 68 recorded in January alone.
CHO urged parents to immediately bring their children with measles-like symptoms to hospitals or health care centers for proper treatment. Symptoms of having measles include high fever, aches, skin rashes, eye redness, and flu-like symptoms. (davaotoday.com)
