ILOILO – Less than two months into 2019, the Provincial Health Office (PHO) already recorded 396 cases of dengue fever, including three deaths. These covered the period from Jan. 1 to Feb. 14 – a 281 percent surge from last year’s 104 cases recorded within the same period.
Provincial health officer Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado warned of a further increase in cases in the months to come, citing a trend that PHO had established using past records – every three years the province experiences a surge in dengue.
It was in 2016 when Iloilo last had a big spike in dengue cases, said Trabado.
She urged Ilonggos to step up cleanup measures targeting the habitat of dengue mosquitoes.
The municipality of Pototan has the most number of cases (55, with one death) followed by Passi City (42) and Bingawan (26 cases with one death).
Other towns with double-digit dengue cases now are Lambunao (26), Calinog (24), Pavia (22), Estancia (17), Barotac Vejo (16), Dumangas (14), and Oton (14).
The recorded three dengue deaths so far this year were in Pototan, Passi City and New Lucena.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever is an acute mosquito-borne viral infection that affects infants, young children and adults.
The symptoms, which usually begin four to six days after infection, include sudden, high fever, severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, severe joint and muscle pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, skin rash which appears two to five days after the onset of fever, and even mild bleeding (such a nose bleed, bleeding gums, or easy bruising).
Of Iloilo’s 42 towns and one component city, only three do not have dengue cases – Ajuy, Anilao and Guimbal.
Trabado said the cleanup drive against day-biting dengue mosquitoes should start in the barangays.
“Anhon lang ni Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. sa provincial level, anhon ni mayor sa municipal kay ang mga tawo yara sa kabarangayan? So didto gid dapat kita ma-start,” said Trabado.
She urged barangay officials to take the lead in implementing the Barangay Kontra sa Dengue program – a community-based mass cleaning program targeting the breeding grounds of dengue mosquitoes.
Aedes albopictus and aedes egypti mosquitoes live and breed and clear, stagnant water.
Trabado stressed the importance of observing the 4S strategy in combatting dengue:
* search and destroy mosquito breeding places
* self-protection measures
* seek early consultation for fever lasting more than two days
* say “no” to indiscriminate fogging
It was announced just this November 2018 that Western Visayas was one of three pilot regions for the rollout of a new and locally developed technology for diagnosing dengue.
Biotek-M, rapid dengue test kit, had been approved for clinical use by the Food and Drug Administration, according to Dr. Raul V. Destura, the molecular microbiologist who developed this new dengue test.
This locally developed technology was also less costly, he added.
“I am very proud that the Department of Health is adopting it. We were here a couple of months ago kasi tini-train namin ang mga medical technologists ng Western Visayas,” said Destura.
The development of Biotek-M was fully funded by the government through the Department of Science and Technology and University of the Philippines.
The rapid dengue test kit is intended to reach marginalized sectors, particularly via barangay health centers, according to Destura.
The two other pilot regions for Biotek-M were the Ilocos Region and the Zamboanga Peninsula./PN
