PALO, Leyte — The Department of Health (DOH) urged local government units in Eastern Visayas to activate their dengue brigades after some areas in the region declared a state of emergency due to a surge of dengue cases.
From January to the second week of August, at least 2,087 dengue cases were reported to the DOH regional office here with Baybay City posting the highest with 375 cases (13.4 percent of the regional total), followed by Ormoc City with 268 cases.
Rising dengue cases prompted the local governments of Baybay City; Hilongos, Leyte; Salcedo, Quinapondan, and Hernani in Eastern Samar to declare a state of health emergency.
“These show that the mosquito density carrying dengue is high. Local governments must activate their dengue brigade as preventive and aggressive campaign to destroy all breeding area of dengue-carrying mosquitoes,” said Roderick Boyd Cerro, chief of the DOH regional epidemiology unit in an interview Monday.
The surge in dengue cases has been recorded in Tacloban City; Cabucgayan, Biliran; Bato, Capoocan, and Mahaplag in Leyte; Calbayog City, Catbalogan City, Daram, and Matuguinao in Samar; Mercedes, Eastern Samar; and Maasin City, Southern Leyte.
Cerro said a major strategy to combat dengue is to conduct dengue prevention campaign with all sectors concerned in the local level. This is on top of providing logistics to local health workers.
Other strategies of the health department to combat rising cases are intensified mosquito control efforts, coordinate with local government units in information drive, conduct fogging and spreading larvicide in areas with clustering of cases, install dengue express lanes in hospitals, purchase and preposition of fluids.
Dengue fever is marked by an onset of sudden high fever, severe headache, and pain behind the eyes, muscles and joints. Some may develop rashes and varying degree of bleeding from various parts of the body.
Aside from dengue, the same type of mosquitoes also transmit Chikungunya virus that afflicted hundreds of residents in San Jorge, Tarangnan, and Calbayog City in Samar; San Roque, Northern Samar; and Maripipi, Biliran. (Roel Amazona/PNA)
