EXPECTING an increase in the number of dengue cases this year, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) is tapping the Department of Education (DepEd) 7 to incorporate ovitrapping in the school curriculum.
In an interview last Friday, Feb. 8, PHO Chief Rene Catan said that while misting had been practiced for a long time, it was time to try new methods that could stop dengue-carrying mosquitoes from breeding.
“We have to make sure our kids understand the disease. We need to build awareness. We’re focusing on schools since our children are vulnerable,” he said.
Ovitraps are used for monitoring and can detect disease-carrying mosquitoes, acting as an early warning signal to preempt disease outbreaks.
According to Wikipedia, “an ovitrap is a device which consists of a dark container containing water and a substrate where mosquitoes can lay their eggs. The eggs then fall through the mesh into the water, where the larvae hatch and develop into pupas.”
Catan said dengue cases peaked every three years.
In 2016, Cebu reported 9,063 dengue cases, while only 2,461 cases were reported in 2015.
“Dengue cases went up a bit (in) 2013, but (the) average is only 2,500 to 3,000 cases. The year 2016 was unusual because the cases remained high in October. In October that year, we declared an epidemic. We’re afraid that for 2019, dengue cases will double. That’s why we need to monitor,” Catan said in Cebuano.
In 2016, the cities of Toledo, Carcar, Talisay, Naga and Danao and the towns of Balamban, Consolacion, Liloan, San Fernando and Medellin were the top 10 local government units (LGUs) with the highest cases of dengue.
Last year, the top five LGUs with the highest number of cases were the cities of Toledo (579), Talisay (491) and Naga (485), and the towns of Minglanilla (420) and Liloan (404).
Catan said the rainy season caused a surge in the number of dengue cases in the last five months of 2018.
The PHO recorded 3,945 dengue cases from August to December 2018, while only 1,763 were recorded in the same period in 2017.
The PHO, though, has yet to reveal its report for 2019 since it is still waiting for reports from provincial district hospitals.