DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/14 March) — The City Health Office recorded 783 dengue cases with one fatality from January to February this year, or a 10.43-percent increase over last year’s figure of 709 cases during the same period.
In an interview on Monday, Melanie Babante, CHO pest control worker, told MindaNews that the fatality was a four-year old boy in Agdao district whose parents did not bring him to a hospital immediately after the child showed symptoms of dengue.
CHO records showed that dengue cases reached 2,498 last year with eight fatalities.
But Babante cautioned that some people with simple fever might have been declared as dengue patients allegedly by hospitals to avail of benefits from PhilHealth.
She said they will raise this concern in a forum to be organized by the Department of Health later this month.
The CHO has retained five areas as dengue hotspots due to high incidence of the disease. These are Buhangin, Barangay 19-B in Poblacion, Talomo North, Talomo South, and Agdao districts.
Babante said they held forums and an information drive in schools to raise awareness on how to keep dengue-carrying mosquitoes at bay.
She said the CHO also conducts a monthly larva surveillance on 100 houses in each of the city’s 182 barangays to give tips on the possible breeding sites of mosquitoes.
She added they would conduct fumigation in areas where there are confirmed cases of dengue.
Other interventions include the distribution of Olyset-treated curtains and ovicidal-larvicidal traps.
The OL traps, however, have to be monitored weekly because these can be potential breeding sites of mosquitoes if not replaced in a month’s time, the period of its effectiveness. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)