GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The effort to contain the spread of the deadly dengue fever in South Cotabato province has gained ground as health personnel recorded a significant drop in confirmed cases since January this year.
Jose Barroquillo, dengue coordinator of the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), said Monday they only recorded a total of 551 dengue cases as of April, or a reduction of 54.7 percent when compared to last year’s figures during the same period.
He said most of the cases, which were recorded in all 10 towns and the lone city of the province, involved children.
The IPHO’s epidemiology and surveillance unit reported two deaths due to the disease in Koronadal City and Surallah town, he said.
“This is a significant improvement so far and we’re working on preventing more cases of deaths due to dengue,” Barroquillo said.
From January 1 to May 20 last year, the IPHO already recorded a total of 1,585 dengue cases, with 10 fatalities.
Barroquillo said their campaign is currently focused in areas where clustering of cases were reported.
The Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center defined clustering of cases as three or more cases in a barangay in four consecutive weeks.
These are Baragays Reyes in Banga; Mambucal, Saravia, General Paulino Santos and Zone IV-Poblacion in Koronadal City; Cannery Site in Polomolok; Colongulo and Libertad in Surallah; Tinongcop, New Iloilo and Poblacion in Tantangan; Poblacion in T’boli; and, Poblacion, Kalkam and Bunao in Tupi.
Barroquillo said they have coordinated with local officials and municipal health offices for the monitoring and conduct of regular cleanup activities in these areas.
“We’re promoting the five-minute cleanup daily in our households of possible breeding places of mosquitoes,” he said.
He said such simple step could work wonders later on in the fight against the mosquito-borne virus.
“A can of soft drink could be used to breed hundreds of mosquito eggs. So just imagine the impact if we could stop that,” he added. (Anna liza Cabrido/PNA)
