• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Amid reports that Hand-Foot-and Mouth disease has reportedly hit eight barangays of E.B. Magalona in Negros Occidental, Mayor Matthew Louis Malacon said on Friday that there is “no cause for alarm yet.”
Malacon said the alleged HFMD cases are still subject for confirmation via laboratory testing by the the Department of Health (DOH). Nonetheless, he instructed the town’s health officer, Dr. Edmundo Janeo, Jr., to exert more effort in conducting thorough verification of the reported FMD cases.
Classes in all day care centers and schools with suspected cases across EB Magalona have been suspended since Thursday, July 10, to give way for disinfection measures.
Disinfection was performed in accordance with the instructions and protocols provided by the DOH, through the Provincial Health Office and Municipal Health Office.
“I acknowledge that this issue is quite concerning, hence, we are now doing the best we can to contain the spread of the suspected HFMD cases,” Malacon said.
He appealed to Saraviahanons to stay calm, pending final results of confirmatory tests from the DOH. The Provincial Health Office logged 16 HFMD cases in E.B. Magalona, out of more than 800 cases all over the province.
Malacon also encouraged Saraviahanons to maintain personal hygiene as a way to avoid not only HFMD, but other emerging viral or bacterial diseases.
Malacon stressed there is no outbreak of HFMD in EB Magalona.
EB Magalona Vice Mayor Marvin Malacon, the father of the mayor, has been designated as head of a special body tasked to delve further on the matter.*
