DOH: Dengue cases double that of 2011

THE Department of Health (DOH) in Davao Region announced on Monday the 108 percent increase in dengue cases for the first semester of 2012 compared with the same period last year.

DOH Regional Director Abdullah Dumama, speaking in Monday's Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City, said it recorded a total of 3,083 dengue cases from January to June this year as compared to only 1,363 cases of the same period last year.

He said most of the cases are found in areas identified by the health department here as dengue hotspots. They are in Talomo North and South and Buhangin, Davao City, and Maragusan in Compostela Valley province.

He also said that to lower the cases, they have applied the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) on the houses, but added they will only allow the application of procedure in the houses if there's already a dengue outbreak.

"The IRS is done by spraying it on the wall, which can kill mosquitoes" he said.

He said they have applied the IRS to more than a thousand houses in the region. The IRS uses K-otrine, a chemical that is not hazardous to the health of the individuals.

The IRS procedure will last up to six months.

To recall, the City Health Office (CHO) with the DOH-Davao Region is intensifying campaign against dengue through a series of seminar on the village chiefs here in the city this month to include them in their undertaking to lower down the dengue cases here.

At the opening of school, the Department of Science and Technology in partnership with the Department of Education launched its ovicidal-larvicidal traps for dengue-causing mosquitoes.

The trap uses a chemical-free solution that kills the egg and young larvae of Aedes mosquito.