MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Some municipal governments have proclaimed outbreaks in response to rising whooping cough and pertussis cases. Sneezing and coughing spread pertussis, a highly contagious disease.

The Department of Health (DOH) has attributed the rise in whooping cough cases and other preventable diseases, such as measles, to the country’s need to catch up with vaccination, especially for children and infants. 

So far, over 450 pertussis cases have been reported in the Philippines in 2024, a steep rise from the 23 cases logged in 2023. 

Here are the areas that have declared a pertussis outbreak as of March 26: 

Quezon City

On March 21, Mayor Joy Belmonte declared a pertussis outbreak in Quezon City after logging 25 cases since 2024 began. The cases included five pertussis-related deaths, all of whom were infants aged 22 to 60 days old. 

Cruz said that Quezon City is hopeful they can get specific timelines for delivering pentavalent vaccine doses by this week. The DOH, meanwhile, said it is expecting three million more doses of the vaccine to arrive “at the soonest possible time.”

Iloilo City

On March 25, Iloilo City announced a pertussis outbreak on March 26, and its local government declared calamity status. The city reported seven confirmed pertussis cases out of 16 suspected cases.

The city is eyeing to mobilize a P16-million fund to implement measures to address the outbreak. On Monday, the LGU said most of the funding would be spent on getting medicine and vaccines. Iloilo is eyeing inoculating 26,000 children from Jaro, Molo, Arevalo, and Lapuz districts.

Meanwhile, other areas in the country have also reported whooping cases. These include:

• Cavite province (41 cases as of March 25)
• Rizal (31 cases as of March 25)
• Laguna (28 cases as of March 25)
• Batangas (24 cases as of March 25)
• Quezon province (10 cases as of March 25)
• Lucena City (2 cases as of March 25) 
• Taguig City (8 confirmed cases as of March 24)
• Pasig City (25 cases as of March 22; 17 confirmed cases and two deaths)

Despite the contagious nature of pertussis, the Department of Health (DOH) has expressed skepticism about the country’s recurrence of lockdown measures. However, health authorities hope Filipinos will apply their measures to protect themselves from catching COVID-19.

Sources:(1),(2)

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