Thursday, September 13, 2007 Pardo, Bulacao ‘dengue outbreak areas’
BARANGAYS Bulacao and Poblacion Pardo in Cebu City are now considered dengue hotspots after seven deaths were recorded in these areas in just one month.
From early August to Sept. 10, four deaths were reported in Bulacao and three in Poblacion Pardo, bringing to 18 the number of deaths due to dengue so far this year.
The Cebu City Health Department already recorded a total of 697 cases of dengue from all private and public hospitals in the city.
In Bulacao alone, 34 dengue cases were recorded from the first week of August to Sept. 10.
There were 33 cases in Poblacion Pardo during the same period.
Dr. Raymond Ogan, city coordinator for the Dengue Control Program, said they already conducted spraying activities in Sitio Tabok Canal in Poblacion Pardo, Charlieville in Bulacao and other neighboring sitios to help kill dengue-carrying mosquitoes.
Dengue awareness programs, advocacies and cleanliness drive were also introduced in the two barangays and other areas in the city where a clustering of dengue cases was observed.
“Our sanitary inspectors have already visited the outbreak areas and aside from poor sanitation, we also saw a lot of breeding sites in the two sitios where larvae were breeding. These are watery areas, which are good breeding sites for mosquitoes,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
The inspectors saw larvae in stagnant water stored in pots, old tires and uncovered containers.
Ogan urged the public to maintain cleanliness at all times and to eliminate all possible breeding sites in their surroundings as a way of fighting dengue.
The City Health Department declared the two barangays as outbreak areas last Friday morning yet.
“We decided to declare an outbreak there because the number of cases was above the normal number. We consider it an outbreak when there is only one case at a certain time then all of a sudden, the number increases four or five times and the increase is continuous,” Ogan said.
Such is the case in the two barangays, he said. (LCR)
