|
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Cebu dengue cases decline
CEBU CITY -- The Integrated Provincial Health Office (Ipho) recorded a drop in the number of dengue cases from 2,008 last year to 814 so far this year.
From January to Oct. 3 this year, 27 deaths were blamed on dengue fever, while 49 were recorded in the same period last year.
But while the public has been wary of dengue, it is acute gastroenteritis that continues to top the list of diseases in Cebu Province, with a total of 8,214 cases.
Dengue, with 814, is only second in the list.
Provincial Health Chief Cristina Giango said their continued advocacy against dengue is a great factor in making the public aware of the things to do to avoid contracting the disease.
Local government units in the province have also been active in promoting clean-up drives, she said, as cleaning the environment is a sure way to prevent dengue.
Giango said that rural health units are always mobilized for the year-round campaign and told to immediately report and follow up cases.
In the last week of September, an Ipho team went to check 91 cases of fever in Lanao, Daanbantayan in northern Cebu.
The team, however, found that the cases were not dengue but caused by a virus that quickly spread in a congested classroom.
The Ipho distributed vitamins, disinfected the classroom and placed larvicides in a pit at the back of the classrooms.
As for the high incidence of gastroenteritis, Giango said this is always the case every year.
She said many barangays in the province do not have faucets in their homes yet and rely on communal water systems.
Also, several households in Cebu do not have toilets, a major factor in gastroenteritis cases.
The Provincial Government has been trying to address this by distributing toilet bowls, but they could not go full blast on the project because many poor households do not own the lot they are occupying.
Gastroenteritis is a waterborne disease, and Giango said cleanliness is a big help to keep away flies and bacteria. Sanitary practices must be done in households, as basic hand washing could prevent the disease.
Third on the list of cases recorded in district hospitals is hepatitis A with 273 cases, while the third highest recorded in rural health units is animal bites, with 100 cases. (Jeanette P. Malinao)/b>
(October 8, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Priest calls for boycott of Petron's oil products