Saturday, August 04, 2007 DOH team heads north after rise in dengue cases
THE Department of Health 7 is headed to the fourth district for its campaign against dengue hemorrhagic fever.
Regional Director Susana Madarieta said they might deploy a team to Bantayan Island and the town of Medellin next week, after the two municipalities showed an increase in dengue cases.
According to the agency’s records, Bantayan Island has already recorded 11 dengue cases, while Medellin has nine. It may not sound alarming, but Madarieta said this is already unusual for the two areas, particularly Bantayan Island.
The regional tally of dengue cases at the island does not reportedly reflect the whole scenario with the municipality recording 31 dengue cases with two fatalities.
Madarieta was surprised with the increase in Bantayan Island, saying the aedis egypti mosquito does not thrive in saltwater.
“In brackish waters, or a mixture of salt and fresh water, the mosquito may have a 50 percent survival but it does not thrive 100 percent in saltwater,” she said.
Perhaps residents still have containers in the environment that stored water and became breeding places for the mosquito, she said, adding that this is why she wants the place checked.
As for Medellin, Madarieta also received reports that dengue cases have victimized nine people, which is already a lot for the municipality. There are also reports of clustering.
Last week, seven children from the town were taken to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center and 11 at the Verallo District Hospital for suspected dengue cases. Most of the cases came from Barangay Tindog.
In a meeting last Wednesday, Madarieta revealed that some areas learned from their previous dengue outbreak tendencies, prompting them to make innovations.
Madarieta cited Danao City, which created a dengue checklist that barangay nutrition scholars use when conducting a house-to-house campaign to search and destroy mosquito-breeding places.
On the part of Toledo City, it made use of its unused tires, a popular mosquito-breeding place, as lining for improvised septic tanks.
Both Danao and Toledo used to figure in the top 10 areas with the most number of dengue cases, she said. (JGA)
