EDITORIAL - Disease prevention

Health officials have found it remarkable that the incidence of HIV-AIDS infection in this country has remained relatively low. The Philippines has also managed to avoid any serious outbreak of new viral diseases that have killed hundreds in other countries.

The standing joke is that Filipinos are so used to living in germ-infested surroundings that people have developed immunity to new afflictions that have spread virulently in other parts of the world. These include avian flu; Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS, which emerged in late 2002; the swine flu called Influenza A (H1N1) that became a pandemic in 2009; and now the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome or MERS, first reported in 2012 in Saudi Arabia.

Some Filipinos working in the Middle East have reportedly been infected with MERS, but no serious health risks have been detected so far in the Philippines. This situation can be sustained if the public cooperates and complies with precautionary measures implemented by health officials.

Despite inconveniences, Filipinos have generally cooperated with preventive health measures. During the SARS and AH1N1 scares, schools subjected students to temperature screening and ordered stringent hygienic practices to prevent infections. These measures will again prove useful as most schools prepare for the start of classes in June.

Health officials are also tracking down people arriving from the Middle East to test them for MERS. While testing can be a hassle, the affected people should consider it useful, especially if they are experiencing flu symptoms. A wrong diagnosis can lead to death.

The lack of cooperation from those who may be afflicted can be fatal for many others. More than a suspected natural immunity to killer viruses, stringent precautionary measures are the most likely reasons for the low incidence of infections among Filipinos from the viruses that have emerged in recent years. Public cooperation is indispensable as a shield against killer diseases.