DAVAO CITY— The Department of Health (DOH) XI on Tuesday confirmed 368 cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease in the entire Davao Region from January 1-21 this year.
The DOH said in an interview with PTV Davao Tuesday that while there are also adolescents who were infected by the disease, most of them are children.
“It’s not that fatal or severe compared to other diseases. But there’s also one type of the virus that we should be careful with that can affect the brain of the child,” said Dr. Gerna Manatad assistant regional director of DOH XI.
Below is the tally of HFMD cases in the Davao Region, as of Jan. 21, 2022:
- Davao de Oro: 110
- Davao del Norte: 94
- Davao City: 92
- Davao Occidental: 77
- Davao del Sur: 9
- Davao Oriental: 4
In Matina Elementary School in Davao City, 10 pupils from different grade levels have developed the symptoms of the disease since 2nd week of January.
According to the school’s principal, the transmission only took about 2-3 days after the first student who showed symptoms such as blisters on hands and mouth, and fever.
The pupils who were presumed infected were advised to be absent and do modular classes instead.
“Nung nalaman ng clinic in-charge namin, we did disinfection sa mga classroom, mga 30 plus yung mga bata. Nag-order agad ang school na yung isang section na yun, i-disinfect muna,” Marieta Gaer said.
Teachers were required to submit a daily monitoring of their pupils’ health condition to ensure the transmission will be avoided.
The school is yet to update on the status of those who are infected by the disease and is preparing further preventive measures as the pupils will be back to school next week, after the semestral break. - Report from Chrislen Bulosan