{"id":115447,"date":"2017-09-01T07:47:08","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T11:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=115447"},"modified":"2017-09-01T07:47:08","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T11:47:08","slug":"leptospirosis-up-71-in-first-8-months-of-the-year-doh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/09\/01\/leptospirosis-up-71-in-first-8-months-of-the-year-doh\/","title":{"rendered":"Leptospirosis up 71% in first 8 months of the year: DOH"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Flood (Timothy Medrano \/ Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 Suspected cases of leptospirosis nationwide rose 71.1 percent, reaching 910 from Jan. 1 to Aug. 5 this year compared to 532 cases in the same period last year, the Department of Health (DOH) reported.<\/p>\n

Of the 910 suspected cases, 96 resulted in death, compared to 50 in the same period in 2016, DOH spokesperson, Dr. Eric Tayag, said in an interview with the media Thursday.<\/p>\n

Majority of the cases were recorded in the National Capital Region (NCR), with 172; followed by the Davao region with 112; Western Visayas with 98; Central Luzon with 80; and the Ilocos region with 70.<\/p>\n

In terms of death, NCR recorded 22, Ilocos followed with 13; Calabarzon with 11; Eastern Visayas with 10; and Western Visayas with 9.<\/p>\n

Most of the patients were 35 years and older.<\/p>\n

Leptospirosis is caused by the Leptospira bacteria, which enters the body through cuts or abrasions on the skin, or through the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes when a person comes in contact with floodwaters mixed with garbage, or moist soil contaminated with the urine of infected animals, especially rats.<\/p>\n

Tayag said its incubation period is from 7 to 10 days and its symptoms include high fever, muscle pain, headache, redness of the eyes, chills, and tea-colored urine. It could lead to kidney failure and in some cases, it affects the lungs and brain.<\/p>\n

“Hindi ito dapat na binabalewala (<\/em>This disease should not be disregarded),” he warned.<\/p>\n

Patients must be treated within two days from the onset of the illness to prevent complications, he said, noting that early consultation is necessary to confirm if a patient is indeed suffering from leptospirosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not self-medicate,” the health official said, adding that antibiotics for the disease are available in community health centers at the recommendation of a physician.<\/p>\n

To avoid contracting the disease, the DOH advises the public not to swim or wade in potentially contaminated water or floodwater; use proper protection such as boots and gloves when work exposes one to contaminated water; drain potentially contaminated water; and control rats at home by using traps or poison and maintaining cleanliness.\u00a0(PNA)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2014 Suspected cases of leptospirosis nationwide rose 71.1 percent, reaching 910 from Jan. 1 to Aug. 5 this year compared …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":15384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2401,7214],"class_list":["post-115447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-doh","tag-leptospirosis","mauthors-leilani-junio","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}