People are being warned by the Department of Health (DOH) that if they have received any fire-cracker related injury during new Year celebration, they could probably get infected with tetanus.

Dr. Eric Tayag, Director of DOH-National Epidemiology Center (NEC), is urging people to get immediate treatment if they received firecracker-related injuries so as to safeguard themselves against tetanus. Tetanus is bacteria that infects wounds and if left untreated, could prove deadly.

He says that one affected with tetanus exhibits symptoms such as lockjaw, high fever, headache and weakness and the illness could crop up from eight days to three weeks after receiving the injury.

On Monday, the DOH revealed that the number of injuries received during the new Year festivities surged to 891, including 844 caused by firecrackers, 36 by stray bullets and 11 by fireworks’ intake. Most of the firecracker-related injuries were the result of the use of piccolo, kwitis and 5-star.

Majority of the causalities i. e. 55% were found in Metro Manila and among them 95% of the cases were consequences of firecrackers’ use, 4% of stray bullets and 1% of firework ingestion.

Tayag told that they were providing treatment to patients affected with all kinds of injuries.Image Copyright: ABF@commonswiki (under Creative Commons license)

MANILA, Philippines – At least 891 people were injured by firecrackers and stray bullets during the New Year revelry, the Department of Health said Monday.

Based on the latest DOH data, 844 people were injured by firecrackers, 36 were hit by stray bullets and 11 were hurt after ingesting firecrackers.

The casualty count is 13% lower than last year’s total of 1,028 casualties, according to Dr. Eric Tayag of the DOH’s National Epidemiology Center.

Tayag said the leading cause of injuries is piccolo, followed by kwitis and 5-star.

He said most of the victims waited for 5 days before going to the hospital for treatment.

The DOH is now on tetanus alert in anticipation of the surge of complications from untreated firecracker injuries. Tayag said they are treating all victims of firecrackers as serious cases.

Manifestations of tetanus come out as early as 3 days to one month. Among the symptoms of tetanus are headache,lockjaw, high fever and weakness.

"Yung mga galing na sa ospital na naputukan dapat nyong tiyakin na nabigyan kayo ng anti tetanus na bakuna. Kung wala, kailangan niyong bumalik," he said.