• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A two-month-old infant died of probable case of pertussis, or whooping cough, as the number of the contagious respiratory illness rose to eight in Negros Occidental as of April 16, a report of the Provincial Health Office (PHO) showed.
Dr. Ma. Girlie Pinongan, provincial health officer, said on Wednesday (April 17) that the infant died on Tuesday at a government hospital in northern Negros.
Last week, a month-old infant was confirmed to have died of pertussis, based on the findings of the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM).
Of the 39 cases reported to the Negros Occidental Health Surveillance System, eight were confirmed by RITM as pertussis, 13 were negative, and 18 others were probable.
The report added that 18 of the 31 local government units in Negros Occidental have at least one pertussis case, with age-group zero to nine months old having the most number of cases.
As of April 6, the City Health Office logged six confirmed cases of pertussis in highly-urbanized Bacolod City. | GB
