ILOILO CITY — Health officials have said that the mosquito-borne disease Japanese encephalitis has killed four persons and infected eight others in Iloilo province from Jan. 1 to June 3.
Based on the data released by the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO), two of the fatalities were from Leganes town while the towns of Barotac Nuevo and Barotac Viejo had one fatality each.
Dr. Maria Socorro Colmenares-Quiñon, IPHO chief, said that the deaths signified a 28.6 percent fatality rate out of the 14 total confirmed cases for the first half of the year.
The eight other cases of Japanese encephalitis were recorded in the third, fourth, and fifth districts of the province.
Most of the cases were children with nine cases within the age group of four to 10.
Quiñon expressed concern as there is no permanent cure for Japanese encephalitis and the prevention is vaccination, which is not even available in Iloilo.
With cases of Japanese encephalitis, the IPHO urged local government units (LGUs) in the province’s 42 towns and component city of Passi to implement a similar strategy against dengue, which is also a mosquito-borne disease.
LGUs were urged to implement the 4S strategy: Search and destroy; self-protection measures; seek early consultation, and support fogging or spraying.