Malaria outbreak declared in 2 sitios in Quezon
By Sarita Kare, ABS-CBN Southern Tagalog | 11/03/2009 1:10 PM
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QUEZON – Fifteen pupils tested positive for malaria in Quezon province, forcing health officials to declare an outbreak to prevent the disease from further spreading.
Harold Mercado, Health Emergency and Disaster Coordinator of the Provincial Health Office, said it was last October 23 when residents of Sitio Tampitan and Dundulit of Barangay Dapdap in Calauag, Quezon were reported of catching either typhoid or malaria.
Mercado said the health office immediately dispatched a team to conduct tests and discovered that out of 28 patients, 15 were found positive for malaria. The patients are aged 7 to 13, he added.
He said microscopic examinations on the smear of 25 other people are being conducted to confirm if they also have malaria
Mercado said an outbreak has been declared, explaining that there was an unusual increase in the number of cases from the two hamlets.
Residual spraying in known breeding grounds of malaria-carrying mosquitoes was ongoing. Medicines and mosquito nets have also been distributed to residents.
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