LEGAZPI CITY, April 17 -- The Albay Provincial Health Office (APHO) has begun distributing nasopharyngeal swab kits to different rural health units (RHUs) and private and public hospitals in the province as part of its intervention against pertussis.

In an interview on Wednesday, Jan Edmund Dominic Bailon, chief of the Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (PESU), said the health kits would be used for patients exhibiting symptoms that fit the case definitions of the respiratory disease.

"The 200 (swab kits) is an initial number given to us by the Department of Health (DOH) - Bicol. It can be used for emergency purposes for pertussis patients. For RHUs, we allocated five kits each, while for hospitals, we have 10 kits each," Bai...