Saturday, July 07, 2007 Talisay, Mandaue get anti-dengue services
HEALTH officials have extended their information campaign on dengue fever prevention to Naga and the cities of Talisay and Mandaue, even if the three areas have yet to declare an outbreak.
Naga town has an alarming number of cases that need to be tackled, said Department of Health (DOH) 7 Director Susana Madarieta and Dr. Catherine Buscato of the Provincial Epidemiological and Surveillance Unit (Pesu).
Buscato, though, said the local government unit (LGU) in Naga has already initiated a clean-up drive in different areas.
Pesu, along with the Naga rural health unit, went to Pangdan Elementary School to conduct an information campaign. There have been two deaths in the school, which brought the total number in Naga to five.
Since January to June, Pesu recorded 34 dengue cases in the town.
Meanwhile, Madarieta said the number of cases in Talisay is not of epidemic proportions but the city’s three deaths from dengue is already a cause for concern.
On the part of Mandaue, DOH 7 recorded five deaths. And this has alarmed barangay officials of Mantuyong.
The barangay already recorded five dengue cases and one death, that of five-year-old Ritchie dela Victoria.
Madarieta and Buscato explained they have to examine the number of cases before they can recommend declaring an outbreak in any area.
Last month, Mingla-nilla town shot past the epidemic threshold.
Madarieta also warned that the cases in the town are expected to increase in the next few months, or until the end of the rainy season. But with the DOH scouring the area for breeding places of mosquitoes and for fogging, she hopes the outbreak will end this month.
She showed Sun.Star Cebu the trend in Minglanilla for the past five years. The number of cases usually goes up between August and October, and goes down between June and July. This year though, the trend peaked early, which prompted health officials to recommend that the town be declared for dengue outbreak.
In comparison, Naga and the cities of Talisay and Mandaue have yet to reach alarming and epidemic levels in the past five years.
Nonetheless, Mada-rieta said their campaign continues.
With Minglanilla already recording 68 dengue cases and seven deaths since January, according to DOH 7 records, Madarieta said medicines for the town have been augmented. The latest death happened yesterday, according to a report from TV Patrol.
Platelet count is free in the rural health unit and in the district hospital of Minglanilla, while the latter also has intravenous fluids for dengue admissions.
The same goes for Naga, said Buscato, where the rural health unit also provides free platelet counts.
Minglanilla’s municipal health officers have been discouraged by negative commentaries regarding the dengue outbreak in the town, Madarieta said. But she appeased them by saying they should just continue doing their jobs. (JGA)
