Iloilo health officials step up chickenpox monitoring

THE ILOILO Provincial Health Office (PHO) is stepping up the monitoring of chickenpox cases after 35 students in one primary school were recorded to have been infected since January. “The infection was spread because the infected children were still going to school. The prevention should have started on the first case identified, that should have been in-house,” said PHO head Patricia Grace S. Trabado. The case of the 35 schoolchildren of Cadabdab Elementary School who were affected between Jan. 15 to March 3 can be traced to an adult male who passed on the infection to one of the students. Ms. Trabado said no new cases have been recorded since following closer monitoring and management by the Rural Health Units. She also reminded the public that chickenpox as well as mumps should be watched out for during the summer season. — Emme Rose S. Santiagudo