ILOILO CITY — The City Health Office (CHO) here Wednesday called for a sustained cleanup drive as Iloilo City recorded an increase in the number of dengue cases from January to July this year.
In an interview, CHO chief, Dr. Bernard Caspe, said 160 cases and one death were recorded in the first seven months of the year, 24 percent higher than the 124 cases and three deaths recorded in the same period last year.
Caspe, however, said that they are “not alarmed” because no clustering of cases has been reported in the city and that the rise in the incidence of dengue was not only observed in Iloilo City but “almost nationwide” due to the recent heavy rains that have left stagnant water.
He said his office has already come up with a dengue health advisory and has written the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) to remind their members of the city’s “four o’clock habit” ordinance and the cleanup drive every Saturday.
It must be emphasized that cleanup shall be done daily and not just during weekends, he said.
“Dengue is any month. We do not talk of the rainy season. Even in summer months there can be dengue because mosquitoes can thrive inside the house, flower vases, water containers, where they can breed,” he said.
Larvicides, chemicals that can be placed in stagnant waters to kill the larvae of mosquitoes, are also available in all district health units.
“Before the opening of schools, we deployed our personnel to conduct misting in all public schools, which is ongoing until now. We hope to complete it before September ends,” he said.
Misting, he noted, is different from fogging, which produces foul-odor smoke and provoke asthma attacks.
“Misting makes use of a spraying machine, much fine and does not produce smoke. We kill the adult population (of mosquitoes) and the effect can last from two weeks to one month,” he explained.
It makes use of pesticides that are friendly to animals.
Meanwhile, Caspe said the cleanup drive will not only eliminate the breeding places of mosquitoes but will also target other illnesses brought by animals and insects that thrive in dirty places, such as leptospirosis that is caused by rats. (Perla Lena/PNA)
