THE Department of Health (DOH) 7 recommended that the rising incidence of dengue in the town of Minglanilla be treated as a challenge “of epidemic proportions.”
But it is up to the local government unit, through the Municipal Health Office, to declare a state of calamity in the area.
The number of deaths blamed on dengue fever in Minglanilla has reached six for June—four of them in the last 13 days alone.
The neighboring town of Naga also reported three deaths.
Epidemiology Nurse Rennan Cimafranca of the Regional Epidemiological Surveillance Unit (Resu) of DOH 7 has not considered the cases in Naga to be that alarming.
Radio dyLA reported that the latest casualty in Minglanilla died last Thursday.
Cimafranca also said that the victims’ ages range from four to seven years old.
DOH officials immediately formed a team that will visit Minglanilla today.
The team will be divided into three groups—the health education group, surveillance group and environmental group, said Cimafranca.
The team was organized after the health department considered the number of cases in Minglanilla to be “of epidemic proportions.”
The six deaths were contained in three barangays—Tulay, Pakigne and Tungkop.
The team will be confirming today the cause of the dengue outbreak in the area. It will check on garbage, stagnant water and other environmental concerns.
Spread by a day-biting mosquito, dengue fever can be prevented by eliminating the places, such as pools of stagnant water, where these insects breed.
As of June 23, Minglanilla recorded 35 dengue cases since the start of the year, with two deaths. The two deaths were that of a five-year-old boy recorded on June 4, and a six-year-old girl reported on June 16.
From then, there have been four more deaths in the town. (JGA)
