THE City Health Office (CHO) has recorded 15 new cases of malaria in Gumitan, Marilog District bringing to 113 the total number of malaria cases in one month.
CHO chief Dr. Josephine Villafuerte, however, said everything is now under control because of the sufficient number of medicines brought by the CHO teams.
The CHO medical team, she said, is still in Gumitan, Marilog District and not scheduled to return until Thursday evening.
"We can't stay in constant contact with them because of the poor (cell phone) signal. All we know is that they recorded 15 new cases since they went to the area," Villafuerte said in an interview at her office Wednesday.
Villafuerte said they received reports that there are infected people in Gumitan who act normally despite the symptoms of the illness.
"We are thinking na baka they're already used to the symptoms," Villafuerte said. She also added that each person reacts differently to the symptoms of malaria.
When asked about the dengue cases in the region, Villafuerte said that as opposed to malaria, there is no medicine for dengue yet.
"What we can do is to prevent dengue by destroying their breeding sites," she added.
CHO discourages the frequent use of fogging. They conducted trainings and seminars in barangays on how to use fogging, which included teaching them the right proportion of chemicals and the appropriate time of the day to conduct fogging.
Villafuerte insisted that destroying the mosquitoes' breeding sites is still the best way to prevent dengue.
She said the dengue situation is still under control. CHO will only consider a dengue outbreak if there is a doubling in the number of cases.
Villafuerte urged the public to donate blood to the Red Cross and the City Blood Center.
"We are also encouraging the barangays to get the people's blood types and create a pool of blood donors. Then it will be easier to conduct blood-letting in communities," Villafuerte added.