Benguet boy tests positive for EV-71

By Redjie MelvicCawis

BAGUO CITY-- The Department of Health – Cordillera continues urged the public to maintain cleanliness  and personal hygiene as  a boy from the province of Benguet   was confirmed  the second case of Enterovirus-71 (EC-71) in the country.

DOH Local Health Support Division Chief Dr. Amelita Pangilinan said the five year old boy from Tublay tested positive for EV-71.

But the case of the boy was the mild type unlike the case in Cambodia that killed over 50 children  recently.

               

“Ang maganda sa kasong ito, hindi ito yung nakamamatay katulad ng mga kaso sa Cambodia,” she said.

               

The boy is now recuperating at home and back to being an active and playful child.

               

Pangilinan said  the parents of the boy brought him to Benguet  General Hospital for a check-up due to rashes in the hands and mouth with cough and fever.

               

“What is good is that we added EV-71 in the surveillance system of the DOH and the hospitals region wide as a notifiable diseases.  Benguet General Hospital was able to pick it up based on the case definition of the EV-71 thru its symptoms,” said Pangilinan.

               

EV-71 which is associated with hand, foot and mouth disease causes fever, diarrhea and  rashes in the hands, foot and mouth  is sometimes associated with severe central neurological disease.

               

Because the child showed symptoms of EV-71, the BeGH took a sample thru pharyngeal swab and was later sent by the DOH to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and last week the results came back showing he was positive of the strain of EV-71.

               

Pangilinan said that after testing positive for EV-71, the DOH conducted contact tracing at the residence and school of the victim particularly  his family members and his classmates but test results  turned out to be negative from EV-71.

               

Earlier in July, a one year old boy from Davao City tested positive for EV-71 making him the first victim of the EV-71 virus in the country. It was mild case of the disease.