CITY OF MALOLOS, Bulacan — Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado has urged residents of Bulacan province to always maintain a clean environment to prevent dengue fever, especially this rainy season.
“It is important to intensify our campaign against dengue and disseminate information about this to ensure the health and safety of everyone. The vital key to prevent dengue is cooperation with each other. If the environment is clean, there will be less number of mosquitoes and less number of dengue cases,” Alvarado said, urging the community’s participation in massive cleanup operations.
Provincial Health Office-Public Health (PHO-PH) head Jocelyn Gomez said that Bulakenyos should practice the “4S strategies” to prevent a dengue outbreak in the province.
“The implementation of 4S, which means search and destroy, seek early consultation, self-protection, and say yes to fogging during impending outbreak is important,” she said.
According to the PHO-PH, a total of 2,079 dengue cases were registered in the province from January to July 7 this year, a 2-percent increase from the 2,037 in the same period of 2017.
Likewise, four suspected dengue-related deaths were reported this year to the Epidemiology and Disease Surveillance Unit of PHO-PH from the cities of Malolos and San Jose del Monte and the municipalities of Marilao and Pulilan.
Meanwhile, the PHO-PH also reported that about 52,882 students from public schools in Bulacan received the Dengvaxia vaccine in 2016.
As of last July 7, a total of 2,698 Bulakenyos have consulted doctors in both public and private hospitals regarding the vaccine.
“The Department of Health is closely monitoring the Dengvaxia recipients and this will be done in the next five years to determine if they are going to have severe sickness caused by dengue,” PHO-PH surveillance officer Brian Alfonso said.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral illness prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world, according to the World Health Organization.
Its usual symptoms are high fever, severe headache, skin rashes, pain behind the eyes, vomiting. and nausea. (Manny Balbin/PNA)
