MANILA, Philippines – With the rise of whooping cough or pertussis cases in the country, some local government units have declared an outbreak in their areas.

Pertussis is a highly contagious disease that can be spread through droplets by sneezing or coughing.

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.

There have so far been over 450 pertussis cases 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.

The city will administer prophylaxis for the “probable cases” or those who were exposed to those with pertussis. Meanwhile, Quezon City is also seeking to procure more pentavalent vaccines.

In a Rappler Communities Chat on March 22, Quezon City epidemiology and disease surveillance unit chief Dr. Rolly Cruz said most of their affected patients are children with incomplete vaccinations. But because the local government only has a limited supply of the vaccines, it is currently prioritizing those who are up for a follow-up dose of their pentavalent vaccine.

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

Iloilo City

Iloilo CIty declared a pertussis outbreak on March 25, and its local government put the city under a state of calamity status on March 26. The announcements came after the city recorded seven confirmed cases of pertussis, out of the 16 patients suspected of having the disease.

The city is eyeing to mobilize a P16-million fund to implement measures to address the outbreak. On Monday, the LGU said in a statement that most of the funding would be spent on getting medicine and vaccines.

Iloilo is eyeing to inoculate 26,000 children from the districts of Jaro, Molo, Arevalo, and Lapuz.

Cavite province

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan on Wednesday, March 27, put the entire Cavite province under a state of calamity because of the pertussis outbreak. There are now 36 whooping cough cases in the province, including six deaths (1 recorded from Bacoor, 2 deaths from General Trias, 1 death in Carmona, 1 death in Imus, and 1 death from General Emilio Aguinaldo).

Pertussis patients are from Bacoor City (6), Trece Martires (6), General Trias (5), General Mariano Alvarez (4), Carmona (3), Silang (3), Dasmariñas (2), Kawit (2), Imus (2), Cavite City (1), Tagaytay City (1), General Emilio Aguinaldo (1).

The province plans to mobilize P40 million from the 2024 Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Fund to finance its outbreak response.

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

• 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 2 deaths)

While pertussis is contagious, the DOH said it does not expect the country to go on lockdown the way it did when the COVID-19 pandemic broke. However, health authorities hope that Filipinos will apply the same measures they had taken to protect themselves from catching COVID-19. – Rappler.com