DOH, Flesh-eating Disease in Pangasinan is Fake according to Health Officer
Fake Mysterious Disease in Pangasinan
The provincial health office denied the alleged flesh-eating disease in Pangasinan. Health officer Dr. Anna De Guzman said in a phone interview that “there is no truth to a rumor that a flesh-eating disease is spreading in the province.” This statement came out following the special report of ABS-CBN late night news program “Bandila” which aired a segment regarding the dreaded illness on February 24, 2014.
Though the field researchers of Bandila interviewed two victims from Villasis and Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan, De Guzman stressed that “those cases are not linked to the rare necrotizing fasciitis, a serious bacterial infection that spreads rapidly and destroys the body’s soft tissue", the Inquirer news said on its portal. De Guzman said the the news outlet simply wants to connect the fake mysterious disease to the prophecy of Sadhu Selvaraj(self-proclaimed prophet who predicted a flesh-eating disease would start in Pangasinan and would soon spread to other parts of the country). The health officer argued that the media tends to exaggerate a case to catch the attention of the public.
Orpheus Velasco, Pangasinan provincial information officer, said the two patients identified as Joseph and Claire were brought to the hospital for proper medication.
Meanwhile, Health Secretary Enrique Ona requested the public not to panic and urged them not to over-react the rumored “flesh-eating” disease in Pangasinan.
“There is no reported case of ‘flesh-eating’ skin disease in the country yet. Absolutely no reason for the public to panic,” his post reads in Facebook.
Ona further explained that the patient in Santa Barbara is a 21-year-old female who is on multi-drug therapy for leprosy. The patient developed an adverse reaction to the drugs. The second patient in Villasis was said to have a severe case of psoriasis, a chronic skin disease of red patches and white scales, Ona added.
Credit: PDI news