BORONGAN CITY, July 17, 2019—Incidence of Dengue cases in Eastern Samar has increased by 150% than in the same period last year, according to the provincial health office.
There are 672 dengue cases recorded from January to July 12, 2019 in 22 municipalities, including Borongan City in Eastern Samar.
According to Dr. Rodel N. Delgado, the Chief Technical Officer of the Provincial Health Office, there have alrady been seven fatalities due to dengue in July.
Of these recorded fatalities, three are from Guiuan, and one each from Hernani, General McArthur, Quinapondan, and Borongan.
There are also two more deaths from Taft and Guiuan that are still under investigation for any possible link to dengue.
“We are now coordinating with the municipalities, instructing them to conduct search and destroy. This is a method of cleaning the households to eliminate breeding places of mosquitoes” Dr. Delgado added.
The Department of Health has declared national alert due to dengue this week, but Delgado clarified that there is no dengue outbreak being declared in the province and that the province is classified below alert threshold for dengue in the past thirteen weeks.
The PHO encourages Estehanons to ascribe the 4S Strategy to combat dengue. The strategy includes search and destroy, and seek early consultation, self-protection measures, and saying no to indiscriminate fogging.
Delgado clarified that they discourage indiscriminate fogging as this would result to fog-resistant mosquitoes.
He clarified that the PHO only recommend fogging in areas with higher rate of dengue incidence and in areas where there are new cases of dengue each week.
Delgado said that request for fogging or misting should be coordinated with the Rural Health Unit or the Provincial Health Office. (Hazel Llaneta / ESTE News)
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