By Prof. Jayvee J. Jore

Participants from different universities in Western Visayas together with the speakers and PSM officers during the Cluster 1 Webinar on Medical Microbiology.

The Philippine Society of Microbiology Visayas Chapter welcomed the 2023 with a highly participated webinar. The Webinar 1 conducted on January 20, 2023 was an update on Medical Microbiology Cluster entitled, “Updates on Medical Microbiology in Region VI”, via Zoom hosted by the University of St. La Salle – Bacolod.

Distinguished speaker Dr. Bea Camille Natalaray, Infectious Disease and EOH Medical Coordinator of DOH Western Visayas, apprised the participants on the prevailing COVID-19 in Western Visayas. She presented records of patients experiencing mild to asymptomatic cases. She voiced concerns that, “There are still cases with critical symptoms (averaging 45) daily with Alpha and Beta variant since April, and Omicron in January 2022. Vaccination however, have been of great help.” Cases went down to almost 3% with Alert Level 1 to almost all provinces of Western Visayas except Negros and Antique. Natalaray added that, “presently, multiple sub-variants are existing in the country. Children are vulnerable, vaccinations needed – especially that face-to-face classes have begun.”

Ms. Airene Legarda, Food and Waterborne Diseases Program Manager, emphasized that Western Visayas has about 41,000 cases of foodborne diseases from 2017 due to multiple factors that are usually because of improper storage, contamination of food sources and hygiene problems. Here are the food and water borne diseases (cholera, amoebiasis, and hand-foot and mouth diseases with recorded cases here in Western Visayas. An increase in cases was observed. With this, the DOH has been so active in the environmental surveillance to determine root causes and provide solutions to the community.

Dr. Ellen Grace Balinas, Infectious Disease Specialist of San Lazaro Hospital, talked on HIV/AIDS with her topic: “It’s Fast! It is Furious! Be Aware. Be Prepared.” According to her, cases as of September 2022 have a significant increase in HIV cases with an average, 42 per day. An increase of 1,251 cases as of November 2022, with the highest cases from NCR while Region VI recorded 79 new cases, ranking 5th of the most number of cases as of September 2022 attributed to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions or delay in reporting by respective institutions. From 1984, out of 6,183 death reports nationwide, 589 deaths came from Western Visayas.

The CPU BS Biology Program of Life Sciences Department, a member of the Philippine Society for Microbiology Consortium Program, is encouraging Centralians to pay attention to the environment and the community; get updated, be involved and spread awareness to achieve and sustain holistic health in the country.