We can now heave a sigh of relief after a suspected case of meningococcemia involving a five-year-old turned out to be a false alarm.
The suspense of having to wait for the blood samples to be confirmed by a laboratory in Manila was enough to spark rumors about the disease gaining a foothold in our community.
Compounding the fear is the global worry over the coronavirus that started in China, and which has now spread to several countries.
It seems only a matter of time. At the rate tourists are arriving at our airports and seaports, it won’t be long before we could have the novel coronavirus in our midst.
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Coronavirus in humans causes respiratory infections, often mild, but in rare cases, is potentially lethal.
The lockdown of two Chinese cities has given little comfort, although we suspect it may enter the Philippines (and Dumaguete) through people/carriers who may not even have gone to China.
Our local hospitals are our first line of defense so we can only hope they are prepared to handle cases like these.
During the SARS scare back in 2003, we were talking about isolation rooms in hospitals, and were assured by both the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital and the Silliman Medical Center that preparations were in place.
We now hope that our health personnel and medical practitioners are just as ready.
One thing going for us is that we are in an archipelago, and the coronavirus could take a little longer to travel from one point to another. But that should not make us complacent.
We still have to prepare for the possible arrival of the coronavirus which is gripping the world at an alarming rate.
But we Filipinos are survivors. We may have forgotten that this coronavirus is nothing compared to a more deadly killer in our midst – the dengue-carrying mosquito.
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To refresh our minds, and embolden our spirits against this new coronavirus, the Philippines just had its worst dengue outbreak last year. From January to August alone, a total of 271,480 dengue cases were reported, causing the death of 1,107 people, mostly children.
But we moved on with life like there was nothing to worry about.
Prepare for the Corona virus we must. But let’s not overdo the fear.
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