MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/23 July)- Dengue is Bukidnon’s number one and most urgent health problem and the focus of the agenda of the Provincial Health Board when it convenes in early August, Bukidnon provincial health chief Dr. Teresita Damasco said.
Damasco showed that from January to July this year, the province’s dengue cases rose nearly ten times, from 116 during the same period last year, to 1,087.
In 2008, for the same period, only 64 cases were recorded.
She called on the public to “Do your part, clean your environment. Don’t wait for others to do
it.”
She also urged the public to seek medical help when in doubt about a condition suspected to be dengue.
She cited that the dengue strain brought by mosquitoes now bear “more severe” effects on the patients. She said dengue cases in the past took a longer time.
“Now, if you have fever, you feel week, and you don’t know you will probably have hemorrhagic shock,” she said.
“It is as if the mosquitoes have mutated,” she added.
She said the outbreak of dengue usually comes two one to two months after the start of normal rainfall.
“So the end of El Nino brought us dengue because of the continuous rains,” she added.
Based on figures from the PHO statistician Nenita Gacus, Kalilangan, home of the highest number of dengue cases in the province so far at 248, has a morbidity rate of 643 in every 100,000 population.
She said places like Kalilangan posted more cases of dengue since the area has a flat terrain where water often stagnates. She said the areas where dengue mosquitoes thrive are those where people store water due to lack of water system or where there is water rationing, or where dirty water is stored.
She said she will seek Gov. Alex Calingasan’s attention to hold the Provincial Health Board meeting as soon as he is free. (Walter I. Balane/MindaNews)
